


If The Streets Could Talk I Wouldn't

by ShyAudacity



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Angst, Break Up, Canon Compliant, Crying, Estrangement, Everyone Needs A Hug, Fights, Fix-It, Flashbacks, Friendship/Love, Getting Back Together, Grief/Mourning, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Making Up, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Paranoia, Past Relationship(s), Post-Break Up, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Pregnancy, Secrets, Single Parents, Slow Burn, Wakes & Funerals, everyone is hurting, i know we haven't seen s4 yet but still, other relationships not mentioned - Freeform, the teens are now 26/27, yeah idk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-30
Updated: 2019-09-12
Packaged: 2020-03-30 00:09:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 50,257
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19030762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShyAudacity/pseuds/ShyAudacity
Summary: It’s rumored that one of Riverdale’s best kept secrets lives inside of Fox Forest, deep into the thick of trees. Even better- it’s a secret kept so well that most of the people in town don’t even know there’s a secret to begin with.A handful of teenagers that had to grow up too fast are the only ones who really know what happened that night in the middle of March. It’s been almost eight years now. They’re all adults at this point. All of them with jobs and lives far, far from those woods and its untold tales. This secret like something that nightmares are made of; one that follows them around to this day despite all of their attempts to forget.They allsworethat they’d never talk about it again.That was, at least, until Fred Andrewsdied.ORMy ideal season four.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I know that this is a short intro but I just wanted to get it out cause I'm real excited to see what y'all think of this fic. 
> 
> Unbeta'd and title from Unsaid by Amin Drew Law. 
> 
>  
> 
> _If the streets could talk, I wouldn't / I've seen what happens to those that do_

It’s rumored that one of Riverdale’s best kept secrets lives inside of Fox Forest, deep into the thick of trees. Even better- it’s a secret kept so well that most of the people in town don’t even know there’s a secret to begin with.

A handful of teenagers that had to grow up too fast are the only ones who really know what happened that night in the middle of March. It’s been almost eight years now. They’re all adults at this point. All of them with jobs and lives far, far from those woods and its untold tales. This secret like something that nightmares are made of; one that follows them around to this day despite all of their attempts to forget.

They’d give anything to just _forget_.

None of them have spoken about it since that night. Lord only knows what kind of trouble they’d get into if anyone knew the truth. One thing is for sure, if the secret got out, they’d never be able to show their faces in Riverdale again. There would be no more coming home for them.

A secret is only as good as the person trying to keep it. There’s no getting around that, not in a town like this. Not in a town built upon keeping people quiet and digging graves.

The thing about Riverdale is that it has a way of making people disappear. Everyone learns that eventually. Whether on accident or by choice of running away, the city doesn’t have a very good track record for keeping families together. Or keeping them alive, for that matter.

There was no getting around it. Much as they hated it, these teens knew what they had to do. So, when their senior year came to an end, the teens met up one last time. Gathered at the intersection of Elm and Third Street- home, for some of them- and agreed that they all had to _stay away_ from his place. Coming back wasn’t an option for them- not anymore, not after what they did.

“We all know what we did,” the blonde one had said that morning, standing in the middle of the street. “We have to make sure that no one else ever finds out about this, or we’re all dead. Nobody can know but us.”

What happens in the woods stays in the woods. That’s what all of them agreed on. It was the only way they could keep from getting caught.

They all _swore_ that they’d never talk about it again.   

That was, at least, until Fred Andrews _died_.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Ronnie?” He finally rasps out.
> 
> _“Archie? Is that you?”_
> 
> Instead of answering her question, he says: “My dad just died.”
> 
> The gasp on the other end of the line is telling enough; Archie feels something deep in his chest seize and split in two.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Someone dies and someone else makes an entrance. That's it. That's the chapter.

Archie is in a restaurant bar in Seattle setting up for his next gig when he gets the phone call. The one from Riverdale General Hospital telling him that his father collapsed at work on a job site and then flatlined in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. They hadn’t been able to revive him and the nurse on the other end is so, _so sorry son. There wasn’t anything that we could do, his heart just wasn’t strong enough._

Archie almost wants to laugh and tell them they’re wrong. His dad has got the biggest heart out of everyone that he knows. How it could be that _that’s_ what fails him- but the nurse keeps going and asks what they should do with the body until he can get there and-

He’s not even sure what’s happening right now. It feels like another one of those bad dreams that he’s been having for years.

Archie fumbles his way through the rest of the phone call and then collects his halfway unpacked set of instruments and gets into his truck, speeding off towards his apartment. He can call his manager and apologize later.

If he’s lucky he’ll still have a job to come back to when all of this is over.

He doesn’t spend more than twenty minutes in his apartment once he’s there. Only stays long enough to pack whatever clothes that he can find and book a plane ticket to Riverdale over the phone. In his haste, Archie nearly forgets to pack his good suit. Fuck. When was the last time he dry cleaned this suit? Does he even know where it is? The apartments a mess and there’s no time to fix it-

This isn’t supposed to be happening.

He leaves his apartment anyway, locks the door with shaking hands despite having no clue when he’s going to be back.

It’s not until he’s sitting at his gate, his body as anxious as it’s ever been while he waits for his plane that Archie realizes that he could very well be the only one that knows his dad is dead. Did the hospital call his mom too? Does she already know? Why hasn’t she called yet to see if Archie’s okay? Is he going to have to break the news to her?

_I don’t know how to do this on my own._

Feeling borderline numb and not knowing what else to do, Archie picks up his phone and dials the one number that he’s known for years. The same one that he nearly calls every year around the middle of March, wanting to talk.

On its third ring, Veronica’s calm voice fills his ear. _“Hello?”_

The sound is so startling that Archie forgets to respond.

_“Hello… is anyone-?”_

“Ronnie?” He finally rasps out.

_“Archie? Is that you?”_

Instead of answering her question, he says: “My dad just died.”

The gasp on the other end of the line is telling enough; Archie feels something deep in his chest seize and split in two.

Veronica asks, _“Where are you?”_

“The Seattle Airport.” He tells, not caring that he just gave his location away. “I- I have to get home.”

_“Alright. Alright, I can get a flight out of Boston this afternoon.”_

_Huh_ , he thinks, _so that’s where she’s been all this time. I thought she would’ve gone somewhere more tropical._  

_“I’ll call everyone else, okay? Don’t worry about anything else. Just focus on getting home.”_

Quietly, he responds, “Okay.”

_“We’ll all be there tonight, Archie. I promise.”_

He wants to say: _It’s been years since we’ve all been together. How can you be sure that they’ll come? Or that they would even want to._

Instead, he says again, “Okay,” then hangs up the phone. There’s another half hour until he can board his plane, then another three hours on the plane just to get home. It’s going to be nearly rush hour by the time that he gets back to Riverdale, there could be traffic and he doesn’t have a car-

_It wasn’t supposed to happen like this. I was supposed to get to say goodbye to him._

It’s taking everything in him to not break down in this terminal. He’s got a feeling that the attendants won’t let him onto the plane if he’s crying hysterically. Archie keeps staring at his phone, halfway expecting it to combust in his hand or start ringing non stop with people calling to apologize about his dad. He doesn’t even want to think about what the funeral is going to look like.    

Shit. He has to plan a funeral.

Archie turns off his phone, already tired of looking at it. His plane is going to be boarding soon, he’s got to start thinking about what the rest of this week is going to look like.

He can’t stop thinking about which ones of his friends are actually going to show up- or if they’re even going to show up.

_This is all such a mess. I don’t know how I’m supposed to deal with this._

_I don’t know what I’m going to say when I see them._

 

 

 

Kevin is waiting for Archie at his gate when he gets into town and gives him a wave; he looks like he hasn’t aged a day since Archie last saw him. It’s good to know that some things don’t change.

Archie doesn’t know whether to be anxious or relieved that he’s here. Instead of saying hello, he asks, “Did Veronica call you?”

Kevin nods with a knowing look on his face. “Yeah, right after my dad did.”

Archie nods himself, biting at his bottom lip; with his luck, half of the town already knows. Kevin sticks out his arm for a hug, and Archie finds himself stepping into it, albeit stiffly. He pats Kevin’s back with his free arm that isn’t holding his luggage. 

Kevin squeezes Archie’s shoulder as he steps back. “I know the circumstances suck,” he says, “but I’m really glad to see you, Archie.”

“Yeah. You too. Thanks, Kev. Let’s go, I need to get home.”

“Sure thing. Are you hungry? We could stop and get some food.”

“That’s fine,” Archie says though he can’t even tell if he’s hungry; everything feels like it's been tilted on its side.

Kevin does a good job of trying to distract Archie with a conversation on their drive back into town; Archie lets him do most of the talking, it helps him keep his mind off things.

Kevin took over El Royale Halfway House when Archie moved out of Riverdale, he and Mad Dog have gone above and beyond with the place. They’re even talking about opening a second location in Greendale sometime this year, the new location is supposed to be bigger, that way they can house more people without having to worry about having enough beds.

Archie’s so busy looking out the window that he misses Kevin’s question.

“Sorry- what?”

“Do you think you’ll come? To the opening, I mean. Besides, the halfway house was your idea to begin with.”

“Oh, uh, I don’t know. Maybe.”

“Are you not planning on sticking around town?”

“I don’t know yet, Kevin,” Archie says, shortly. He feels bad for snapping at him a second later; all of his nerves are fried and it’s making him agitated. “Sorry, I- …I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. You’ve got a lot on your mind right now.”

If that isn’t the understatement of the year, then Archie doesn’t know what is. He sinks into the front seat of Kevin’s car, crossing his arms. The conversation drops and Archie isn’t mad about it.

Archie doesn’t even realize that they’ve been driving in the direction of Pop’s until Kevin pulls into the lot.

“I hope you don’t mind,” Kevin says as he cuts the engine, “But I’ve been craving a peanut butter milkshake all day.”

“That’s fine,” he says. Archie trails behind Kevin as he gets out of the car; he looks up at the bright orange _Pop’s_ sign above him and something in him freezes, making him stop five feet short of the door.

There’s a flashing, painful memory replaying itself behind his eyes. One where he’s holding his father as he bleeds out on the black and white tiled floor, having just been shot. Fred should have died that day, he almost did. He should have died in this restaurant then he didn’t. Instead, he died this morning and Archie _wasn’t there-_

“Archie? Archie, what’s wrong?” Kevin asks, stalled in front of the door.

He realizes then that there’s a loud, wheezing sound coming out of him. Archie can’t seem to catch his breath.

_My dad is dead. My dad is gone for good. I’m not going to get him back again. There’s no saving him this time._

“I can’t- I can't. I can't go in there, Kev."

Kevin’s eyes go wide like he’s realizing exactly what Archie is trying to get at. He squeezes Archie’s shoulder just like he did in the airport. “It’s okay, Archie. I’ll go in and get take out and then we can bring it back to your house, alright? You don’t have to go in there if you don’t want to.”

Archie just nods since his mouth is too dry to speak. He turns on his heel and goes back to the car without another word- Kevin can order for him. His hands are shaking again and he can barely get the door open. Archie just sits there with his legs hanging out of the car until he manages to catch his breath.

Kevin comes back a few minutes later with two take out bags smelling of fries and grease and two Styrofoam cups. “I wasn’t sure what you’d like so I just got two of everything, but you like chocolate milkshakes, right?”

Archie thinks of the way Veronica’s eyes would light up when she looked at him, how they always did the same thing when they would split a milkshake and a plate of fries.

“Yeah that’s- that’s fine, Kev.”

Archie feels his anxiety building again the closer that they get to his house; despite not having been in here in so long, he still knows the streets like the back of his hand. There are no lights on inside of the house when they pull up and Archie nearly scoffs at the irony. When they pull into the driveway, Archie almost asks Kevin to repark because _that’s where my dad always leaves the truck_ and then catches himself.

He’s got the feeling that he’s going to be doing that a lot this week.

It’s silent in a way that makes his hairs stand on end when Archie comes inside. He flicks on the light to the foyer even though it’s not even close to being dark outside, a force of habit still.

Kevin drops the two take out bags onto the kitchen island. “I should clean up- can I use your bathroom?”

“Sure, first door around the corner,” Archie says; he should probably do the same thing. Without thinking about it, he trails upstairs. Three steps from the top he comes to a complete stop.

His dad’s bedroom door is right in front of him, shut tight. There’s something startling about the scene in front of him. Maybe it’s the abject reminder that his Dad isn’t going to come home, that he’ll never sleep in this house again. The shut door representing everything he can’t do now that he’s-

Archie shakes the thought out of his head and retreats downstairs again. He doesn’t want to think about all things upstairs holds, any secrets that he may not know about.

_A secret is what kept me away,_ he thinks. _I wonder if my dad had any secrets- I wonder how many of them died with him._

Kevin is in the kitchen again when Archie walks back in, already most of the way through his burger; Archie’s is probably cold by now, but he unwraps it anyway.

“I know this might be a touchy subject,” Kevin asks, still finishing a mouthful of food, “But when was the last time that you talked to anyone? Besides Veronica, I mean.”

Aside from this morning, Archie’s only talked to Veronica three times since they moved out of town. He knew it was risky, but he just wanted to talk to her, to see that she was okay. The phone calls never lasted much more than ten minutes, just long enough to say _hello_ and _I’m fine_ to each other.

Archie wishes he could say the same thing now.

He shrugs and honestly says, “I don’t know, we didn’t really keep up with each other like we wanted to.”

He really doesn’t know what he’s going to do this weekend if all of them show up. He’s not ready for that, or for any of this really.   

Before Kevin can ask another question, the sound of a slamming door comes from outside, the click of heels coming up the sidewalk and Archie doesn’t have to guess to know what’s coming.

 

 

 

Veronica says a muted thank you to her driver as she steps out of the car before walking up the driveway to the Andrews house. She smells like an airport and is desperate need of a shower; the navy dress she’s in stopped being comfortable hours ago but that can be taken care of later.

Besides, Archie is waiting for her.

From the window, she can see that there’s a light on inside, so she doesn’t bother with knocking. She never did before, and she’s definitely not about to start now.

Veronica sets her bag down on top of her suitcase when she comes in, eyes drawn towards the kitchen.

Archie is standing across from Kevin at the kitchen, his food untouched in front of him. He looks over at her, and Veronica had almost expected him to be crying, or distraught. Instead, he looks at her blankly like he isn’t sure how to take in her appearance at his front door. She can’t blame him- it’s not like they planned on all of this happening.

He looks older now, of course- there’s scruff on his chin that wasn’t there before- but he’s still Archie. Still broad and bright-haired as ever.

“Hi,” she says carefully as she walks into the kitchen.

“Hey.” 

Veronica reaches to wrap her arms around Archie’s shoulders and doesn’t fail to notice how he barely moves; very un-Archie like of him. She doesn’t say anything about it, that’s not going to make this situation any easier.

“How was your flight?”

“Fine,” he says, “Yours?”

“Fine,” she says; the tension is so thick it could be cut with a knife. Veronica directs her attention to the other person in the room. “Hey, Kevin.”

“Hi,” he says, reaching out to hug her. “How’s Boston been treating you?”

Veronica glances over at Archie already knowing there’s a guilty look on her face.

“It’s okay; busy as always.”

Kevin’s cell phone pings not even a second later and Veronica is all kinds of grateful for the interruption.    

“Shit, there’s something going on work,” he says, “I have to leave for a bit, are you guys-?”

“We’ll be fine, Kev.” Archie says, “Go, they need you.”

_Do you need us, Archie?_ She wonders, privately, _did you even want us to come?_

Kevin bids them both farewell and as soon as the door shuts behind him the whole house goes quiet. Veronica doesn’t know what to say to him; after being apart for so long it’s a struggle to come back without any hesitation.

After a minute Archie says, “You told Kevin you were in Boston?”

Veronica falters with her answer. “Yeah, he uh- he came to visit me a couple of times.” She feels bad admitting that now. Besides Kevin and her Mom, she hadn’t told anyone where she was going, she couldn’t.

There was too much risk of getting caught.

On a whim, she asks Archie: “Have you not been back here since we first left?”

He shakes his head. “No, I came back a few times; for my dad’s birthday and Christmas a couple of years ago.”

Veronica feels her spine go stiff, “What!? Why would you do that? Someone could have seen you, what if we were-.”

"He's my dad, Ronnie. I couldn't just leave him behind like that."

She nods, realizing her poor choice of words. “You’re right. I’m sorry, that wasn’t fair of me.”

Veronica hasn’t talked to her own father in years, didn’t bother keeping up with him after he was arrested again her junior year. He’s called her a few times, but she’s dodged them all. She doesn’t have anything to say to him- nothing nice, anyway.

“I can’t imagine how you must be feeling right now, Archie,” she says. “Can I do anything? To help, I mean.”

Archie dodges her question and instead asks, “Do you think she’s gonna come?”

Veronica doesn’t have to ask; she already knows that he means Betty. She’s the only one who's been completely AWOL this entire time. No one even knows where she is. Maybe that’s a good thing- if nothing else, at least she’s staying away from all the trouble that goes in Riverdale.

She shrugs, honest in saying, “I don’t know. I called, and a sent a couple of texts, but for all we know her number could be different now.”

Archie nods like he had expected her to say that.

Feeling brave, Veronica says: “We haven’t talked about that night since then… do you think we-.”

“No.” Archie says, cutting her off,  “No, we swore we’d never speak of it again, we have to stick to that.”   

Veronica wants to say: _but it’s been years. Why can’t we talk about it now? I think about that night nearly every day and I don’t have anyone to share it with. Please, Archie, I need to let go of this guilt somehow. I need to find a way to come to terms with what we did._

Before she can say any of that though, there are three quick raps on the glass on the front door. It’s pushed open a second later, and there stands Jughead Jones- Beanie-less and dressed up in black slacks and a white t-shirt, as if he’d been in the middle of getting ready for a meeting when Veronica called.

She wasn’t sure that he would come, after everything.

Jughead steps into the thresh hold, looking at both of them with concern as he says: “I was really hoping I wouldn’t have a reason to come back here again.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you think that this cliff hanger is bad then oh BOY just wait until the next one. See y'all real soon!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "But- but we can still be together. Right?"
> 
> Archie stays silent, barely meeting her eye; he can tell that she doesn't like where this is going and Archie feels awful for doing it.
> 
> "Archie."
> 
> "This only works if we all agree to it, Ronnie," he says, sitting up. "We can't be the exception to our own rule. That's not fair."
> 
> “After everything that's happened to us- The Black Hood, Gargoyle Kings, the Blossom family- can't we at least have this one good thing? I just got you back… we just got each other back. We're finally in a good place. Why do we have to go away so soon? We can make this work. Right?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things I'm ignoring in this fic:  
> -Alice and all the farm crazies.  
> -Penelope and that Gargoyle crap.  
> -That Hermione was arrested.  
> -That the Jones' bought/live in the Cooper house.  
> -That Archie just completely gave up music/forgot about it.  
> -Probably something else too I just don't know what yet. 
> 
> Enjoy!

Jughead had been in a meeting with his publisher when Veronica called him. As soon he played back the voicemail and heard her say _Fred Andrews_ and _died_ in the same sentence, he had rushed back to his apartment to pack a bag and buy a bus ticket out of town. Philly is only a few hours from Riverdale. Since it’s such a well-populated town Jughead usually takes the bus to get everywhere- but he’s wishing that he had his own car now. Maybe then he would have gotten home sooner.

After not being back in years, it feels weird being back in town. Feels likes a fever dream that he wishes he could wake up from. His dad and Jellybean still live in town, they’ve been renting out an apartment on Main street for a couple of years now. He stops there just long enough to drop off his bags and change out of his dress shirt.

Jughead hugs both his sister and his dad longer than he usually would, and much as he wants to blame it on nerves, he knows that’s not it.

The Andrews house is only a few blocks from the apartment, but he still decides to drive over even though he’s feeling jittery. The house looks the same as it always has- the one thing in Riverdale that never seems to change.

Jughead forces himself not to look at the white house with the red painted door as he parks, just thinking about it makes his stomach twist into a knot. He hasn’t spoken to Betty in years and he doesn’t want to wonder where she is now. It took him long enough to get over her; if she showed up now, he doesn’t know what he’d do with himself.

Jughead knocks on the glass of the door with his knuckles, three raps just like he always used to, and then lets himself into the house. He’s not sure what he was expecting- but he didn’t think Veronica would be here already. Then again, she had been the one to call him and break the news.

_Archie must have called her first,_ Jughead thinks as he looks at both of them in the kitchen. _He must not need as much as he used to. I can’t say that I blame him. Eight years is a long time._

“I was really hoping I wouldn’t have a reason to come back here again.”

Archie and Veronica both stand a little straighter when he comes in- like they’re _surprised_ to see him. In all honesty, for a minute while he was trying to pack his suitcase, he wasn’t sure that he was going to show up. He wasn’t sure that it was his place to come offer his condolences. If that’s the case, then he’s got the feeling he’s gonna feel really stupid here in a second.

Thankfully, Archie meets him in the doorway to the kitchen and pulls him in for a hug; Jughead feels some of his nerves start to dissipate. Archie’s voice is muffled by Jughead’s shirt as he says, “It’s still weird not seeing you with that hat.”

Jughead has to force himself not to flinch as he thinks about the night he “lost” his beloved crown beanie.

He steps away after a second, keeping a hand on the side of Archie’s neck and asks, “Are you doing okay?”

Archie shrugs, “I don’t know- I don’t think it’s really sunk in yet.” 

Jughead nods, not sure what to say next. “Okay. Well- do you wanna go get some food or-?”

“Kevin and I already went to Pop’s actually.”

“Right. Right of course.”

“Where’s your stuff Jughead?” Veronica asks.

“I dropped it off at FP's.”

“Oh.”

“What?”

“Nothing- nothing, I just thought that you might want to stay here.”

“W- Well, I can. I just wasn’t sure if Archie would want me to-.”

“No, no, I understand I just didn’t-.”

“Both of you, _stop_.” Archie interrupts, growing frustrated. “You two can do what you want, it doesn’t matter to me I just- I’ve got shit to do. I still have to go down to the hospital and figure out what do to with my Dad’s body then call the funeral home-.”

At the same time both Veronica and Jughead, “I can come with you.”

“ _No_.” Archie bites. “No, I, I need to do this on my own. I want an hour to myself to try and clear my head so would you two just please, give me some space? This week is already going to be exhausting enough, I don’t need both of you standing over my shoulder the whole time.”

Veronica and Jughead both pull ashamed faces, muttering _sorry, Archie_ and _I’m sorry, dude, really._

“I know you guys are just trying to help, and I appreciate that, but you can’t fix this. So just let me figure it out, alright?”

Both of them nod; Jughead offers, “My- FP’s truck is out front. You can take it if you want.”

He hopes Archie doesn’t notice how he skipped over the word _Dad_.

“Thanks, Jughead.”

Jughead palms Archie the keys then pats him on the shoulder; Archie walks out the front door not even a minute later, and himself and Veronica are left there, just looking at each other awkwardly.

“So,” Jughead tries, “Are you hungry?”

 

 

 

Of all the things she thought she would be doing with her day, Veronica didn’t think that taking a walk through Riverdale with _Jughead Jones_ would be one of them. It’s weird, of course, she expected that much. But she didn’t think that they would run out of things to talk about as soon as they stepped out of Archie’s house.

_I haven’t seen him in eight years. What the hell am I supposed to say to him? He’ll laugh if I try to ask him about work or the weather._

Both curious and timid, she finds herself asking: “Have you talked to Betty?”

Jughead scoffs then snidely asks, “Have you?”

Veronica rolls her eyes; of course, he would do something like this. “It was just a question. I figured you would know since you two left town together. Which I still don’t understand, by the way.”

“Why is that?”

“Because we had all agreed to go _separate_ directions. Then, at the last minute, you two decided to change your minds. What’s the point in that?”

Jughead stops in the middle of the road, glaring at her. “We wanted to stay together, Veronica.”

“You risked getting us _caught_.”

“We couldn’t get caught if no one knew where we came from!”

Veronica sighs, letting her shoulders drop. Ten minutes in and they’re already fighting with each other; it feels like high school all over again. “Where did you two end up anyway?”

“We started in New York; Betty and I both got into Columbia.”

“New York, really?” She asks, almost astonished. “Did you like it there?”

“Loved it, wish I could have spent more time there,” Jughead notes, “We both left after we break up to avoid running into each other.”

“That’s a shame.”

“That I left New York?”

Veronica shakes her head. “That you two broke up. I really thought you guys were going to last. What happened between you two, anyhow?”

Jughead drops her gaze, scuffing his feet across the blacktop. “Doesn’t matter,” he says, dodging her question; that seems to be the recurring theme today.

The two of them start to walk again, moving at a slow pace; Pop’s is less than a block away now. After a long moment, Veronica asks, “Where did you go? After the break-up, I mean.”

“I found an internship in Philly at a press warehouse not long after; you?”

“Boston.”

Jughead smirks, “Really can’t take the city life out of the girl, can you?”

“Couldn’t even if I wanted to.”

Both of them laugh, a light, far less anxious feeling spreading between the two of them. When the moment passes, Jughead says: “Veronica?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you think we made a mistake in coming here?”

She shrugs. “I don’t know. I haven’t really been able to figure out where Archie’s head is at. We didn’t have much of a chance to talk earlier.”

“Sorry. If I interrupted your moment.”

“It’s fine, Jughead. Besides, I think he might want you here more than me… not that it matters now but- did you two talk at all, after we left Riverdale?”

Jughead nods. “First time was right before I left for Philly. I don’t know why I did it, really. I think I just needed to know that one of us was okay. We talked every once and a while after that, but he never told me where he was. Guess I’m not very good at sticking with the rules we set up. Did you? Talk with him at all?”

“Four times, including the one from this morning.”

“ _Shit_.”

“Yeah.”

“Have you guys-,” Jughead tries. “Do you think you’ll-?”

“I don’t know.” She cuts in, already knowing where this is going, “I don’t know where our relationship is going. I doubt that he’ll want to after everything else that’s just happened. Pressuring him with that wouldn’t be fair.”

“I guess that makes sense. You know he never did tell me, what went down between you two, why you broke up.”

Veronica swallows thickly as the memory starts coming back to her. “It was that next morning, after that night in the woods during spring break…”

 

 

 

_Senior year. Spring Break. Morning after night in the woods._

Archie and Veronica were so close to home- so close to being together for good when shit had to go wrong _again_.

They’re both lying in Veronica’s bed at the Pembrooke, wide awake next to each other as the sun comes up. Archie rolls over onto his back eventually, not having to look to know that Veronica is awake.

"Have you slept at all?" He asks.

"Not a wink. You?"

Archie shakes his head. He hadn't been able to sleep at all last night. His brain wouldn't stop thinking about what they did, how they-

"Do you think anyone knows? Besides us."

He shrugs. "It's hard to say… I don't think there was anyone else around, but you never know with this town."

"Yeah…" Veronica trails off.

They're both thinking the same thing. Both of them are wondering how they're even possibly going to fix this. Archie has got an idea, but it's one that he hates.

Things have to end, even if they don’t want it to.

"I don't think we can be around each other anymore," he says quietly, "You, me, Betty, and Jug… its probably best that we keep our distance."

Veronica pushes herself up on her elbow to look at him, eyes wide and confused. "Archie, what the hell are you talking about?"

"The more we're around each other the more that we run the risk of getting caught. Because of what we did to that guy. Secrets never stay a secret in this town."

"But- but _we_ can still be together. Right?"

Archie stays silent, barely meeting her eye; he can tell that she doesn't like where this is going and Archie feels awful for doing it.

_"Archie."_

"This only works if we all agree to it, Ronnie," he says, sitting up. "We can't be the exception to our own rule. That's not fair."

“After everything that's happened to us- The Black Hood, Gargoyle Kings, the Blossom family- can't we at least have this _one_ good thing? I _just_ got you back… we just got each other back. We're finally in a good place. Why do we have to go away so soon? We can make this work. Right?”

Archie avoids her gaze still, picking at his fingernails.

Veronica’s tone goes sour. “Fine. You wanna break up? Go ahead. Let’s break up. See if I care.”

He knows that she doesn’t mean it, but that also doesn’t make it hurt any less.

Archie retreats from her, climbing out of the bed entirely. "I'm gonna go call Betty and Jughead to see if they can meet up later. You should come… we have to figure this out somehow. Before somebody else does it for us."

Archie leaves without another word or sparing a second glance at Veronica's face. If risks looking at her again, he knows that he’d run right back to her side and beg for forgiveness. He knows that she's crying now; his trembling bottom lip is gearing him up for the same thing. As the door to the apartment shuts behind him, he thinks of that old saying, the one about good things and endings.

Right now, it all feels like a load of bullshit.

 

 

 

“I was so mean to him that day,” she finishes. “It’s a wonder why he ever wanted to call me again. But that was it- end of story. No more Archie and Veronica.”

“Damn. That’s a shame.”

Veronica echoes from earlier, joking, “What? That we broke up?”

Jughead shakes his head, stopping in the middle of the parking lot. “That you didn’t get a say in things. That’s not fair to you.”

No one has ever said anything like that to her before. Hearing it now, from _Jughead_ of all people, makes Veronica feel like she might actually cry.

“You know that might be the nicest thing that you’ve ever said to me.”

“Well, you know what they say about time and changing people.”

She almost laughs. “Don’t I ever. C’mon, let’s get inside already. The fries aren’t going to eat themselves.”

 

 

 

That first night being back in his old house is weird for Archie. Veronica is in the guest room upstairs. Jughead is on the old couch in the basement, the same one that used to reside in the garage when they were still mostly innocent teenagers. And Archie… Archie can’t even bring himself to try and go upstairs again, let alone sleep in his own bed. Looking at his dad’s door still hurts too much. He spends half of the night lying on his back on the sofa in the living room, just staring up at the ceiling- not actually getting any sleep.

In the morning, he’s restless and agitated. It’s been a long time since he woke up in this house- even longer since he woke up and someone else was there.

When he finally gets up off the couch, it’s eight in the morning and Veronica and Jughead are sharing a pot of coffee, chatting like a couple of old friends, like nothing ever changed.

It makes him _sick_.

“Hey,” Jughead says, having spotted him. “How’d you sleep?”

 “I didn’t,” he replies bitterly. He’s not in the mood to be jovial right now.

“Maybe you could stay in today, Archie.” Veronica offers. “Jughead and I could go into town and-.”

“I still have to go down to the funeral home and set up everything. As well as go and get the truck from the job site.”

“I could go get his truck if you want. The site’s just a few blocks from here, right?”

“You don’t have to do that, Jughead. It’s-.”

“I want to help. We came so that we could help you with this, Archie. Shutting us out isn’t going to help.”

“Are you really one to talk about shutting people out?”

“Archie,” Veronica says, warning almost.

Archie looks between both of them. It’s only been a day and he’s already exhausted by their pity.

“You know I didn’t ask you two to come. You didn’t have to show up here.”

“Oh right,” Veronica scoffs. “Just like last time when you didn't want me to come after your dad got-.”

 Jughead stops her before she can finish. “ _Hey_.”

She pulls an apologetic face, muttering an apology.

A part of Archie wants to look at both of them and say _cut me a break my dad just died_ but the thought of saying that out loud makes him feel even more sick than before. Instead, he goes with: "There should still be a spare pair of keys for the truck in the side table by the door. I don't know where his other ones are."

Jughead just nods, taking everything in stride. He heads towards the door and pats Archie's shoulder on his way out.

_Eight years and he's still defending me when I least deserve it._

Another smaller hand touches his upper arm; he looks down at Veronica.

"I could come with you, to the funeral home, if you want. I know this hard for you but you don't have to do all of it by yourself."

_I've been such a dick since she's shown up and she's still being nothing by nice to me. I wouldn't want to be around me if I was her. Hell,_ I _don't even want to be around myself now._

Archie nods. "Okay…" he says quietly. "Okay. That sounds good."

 

 

Despite it being mid-March, it's moderately warm for Riverdale. By the time Jughead gets to the job site, he can feel the back of his T-shirt trying to stick to his skin. Fred's truck is parked at the very back of the lot, away from all of the equipment and scattered pieces of hardwood. There's no one there- the crew must be taking a day off.

Or grieving, maybe.

Miraculously, the door is unlocked when he gets to it. Jughead shuts the door behind him even though it's slightly stuffy from sitting in the sun since yesterday. He moves things around in the console, feels around under the seat, and even checks the glove compartment- but there’s no sign of Fred’s other keys. Where the hell could they be?

He double checks everything again, but still nothing. Just as Jughead is about to slam the glove compartment door something on the corner of the dashboard catches his eye.

Not keys, but some carvings in the far-right corner, glinting under the sun. A closer look, and he realizes it’s three sets of initials, jagged and impossible to miss.

_F.A._

_A.A. F.P.J._

Jughead feels a nearly twenty-year-old memory coming back to him.

He remembers the day that he and Archie did this. They couldn’t have been much older than seven. It was the nearing the end of summer and they were playing pretend- robbers, he thinks, and Fred’s truck was supposed to be the getaway car. When that got boring, they decided to rummage through Fred’s toolbox in the back seat and when Archie found the switchblade buried in the bottom his eyes went wide and say: _“We should leave our initials, Jug!”_  

Then, not even five minutes later when both of them were more than halfway through carving their names in, Fred had come out to check on them. Both of them froze, worried that they’d get in trouble, but Fred just shrugged and said: _“Okay, just be careful boys. Arch, pass me the screwdriver, I wanna get in on this fun.”_

Jughead runs his fingers over the markings and smiles to himself, a tight feeling forming in his throat. He shakes the thought out of his head, trying to get back to the task at hand. He sticks the spare pair of keys into the ignition, turns it over and- Nothing happens. Tries again, still nothing. A third time and the engine doesn’t even try and make a sound.

The car won't start.

_Fred Andrews is a dead man and his car won't start,_ Jughead thinks to himself. _The fucking irony._

A laugh forces its way out of his chest, sudden and hysterical. He can’t even stop it. The whole situation is so ridiculous that Jughead doesn’t even know what to do with himself. He keeps going, chuckling like his whole life depends on it. After a minute, tears spring to his eyes and run down the sides of his cheek.

_This wasn’t supposed to happen. We weren’t supposed to lose anyone else._

Jughead touches his head to the steering wheel as he begins to cry for real, shoulders shaking with the force of them. The sound of his sobs fills the small space and ricochet off of the glass.

He hates all of this. He didn’t want to come back here. That was never part of the plan. Nothing else was supposed to go wrong after they left. Leaving was supposed to _fix_ things.

A tapping on the window startles Jughead, making him sit up straight. A stocky man with a shaved head and holding a hard hat under his arm is looking at him funny. Jughead thinks he’s met him once or twice; Vic, maybe.

Jughead rubs at his eyes before opening the door and before he can say anything Vic goes: “What the hell are you doing in here?”

“Sorry,” Jughead stammers. “My friend- Archie, he asked me to come get his Dad’s truck for him and now it won’t start and I don’t know where his other keys are and-.”

“You’re Archie’s friend?”

Jughead nods. “Known him since we were in diapers, nearly.”

Vic looks almost stunned. “Damn, so you musta known Fred real well, huh?”

He nods again, “Practically helped raised me.” Jughead thinks of those almost two months that Fred let him live in his house and thinks that he might start to cry again.

“It’s real shame about Fred,” Vic says. “A guy like that, you just kinda expect them to live forever.”

“Yeah… I know what you mean.”

“Hey listen, I got my pick up right around the corner- I just stopped in to pick up some paperwork- but I could give you a jumpstart. I don’t know about those keys, but you could look through Fred’s desk if you think it’ll help.”

Jughead feels the tension in his shoulders start to dissipate. “That, that would be great.”

He nods, then sticks out his hand, “Shit, where are my manners- I’m Vic Martin.”

Jughead gives Vic a firm shake. “Jughead, Jones.”

“Jones- wait, hold on. Aren’t you FP Jones’ son?”

Jughead sighs; he almost says _unfortunately_ but then thinks better of it. “The one and only.” 

“Oh man,” Vic says with a smile. “Do I have some stories about your old man. C’mon, I’ll tell ‘em to you while we get this truck running again.”

Jughead climbs out of the car and follows Vic towards the office as he starts to talk; for once, talking about his father doesn’t sound like the worst thing.

 

 

 

It’s past noon by the time that Archie and Veronica get back from the funeral home; Archie peels out of his jacket as soon as he walks in the door. His exhaustion is starting to catch up to him. “I didn’t realize funerals were so much money,” he remarks.

“Isn’t there some line in a song about that?” Veronica asks, “Something like I’d die but it's just too expensive?”

“I don’t know. I don’t really listen to the radio much anymore.” Archie drops down onto one of the kitchen stools; Veronica’s phone makes a noise in her purse and she digs it out.

“It’s Kevin. He says he’s gonna try to swing by later.”

Archie just nods, then thinks of something else. “Did you tell your mom?”

She quirks an eyebrow at him. “About your dad?”

“No, that you’re in town.”

Veronica drums her nails carefully against the wood countertop. “I left a message on her work phone, but I haven’t gotten a response yet. I usually just wait for her to call me, that way I’m not risking anything.”

“She’s still acting as Mayor?”

Veronica nods, “Guess she likes it more than she originally let on.”

Both of them laugh lightly but the feeling quickly fizzles out. The silence feels daunting in the worst way.

“Can you believe it’s been ten years since we first met?” Veronica says. “We were so stupid back then, all of that dumb shit that we did.”

“We were in over our heads,” Archie says flatly.

“Yeah… yeah we were. Sometimes it baffling to me that we ever got out of high school still in one piece; we made a lot of bad decisions in high school.”

Archie shrugs and softly says “I don’t know… they weren’t all bad.”

Veronica looks up him, meeting his eye and she doesn’t have to guess to know what he’s thinking. She thinks about the two of them all the time, wonders where they would’ve ended up if they were still together now. Veronica doesn’t like to do it, though, being that sad all the time isn’t worth missing someone who’s not in her life anymore.

“Yeah,” she says quietly, “Yeah, you’re right.”

She drops her gaze moving towards the living room when Archie stops her.

“Veronica?”

She stops in the middle of the foyer to look back at him.

“Do you ever regret what we did?”

She cocks her head to the side. “That night in the woods?”

Archie shakes his head. “No. I mean breaking up.”

Veronica feels her heart sink in her chest, a sad feeling spreading through her ribcage. She says, “Every day, Archie.”  

The moment is interrupted- thank god- by Jughead walking in the front door, carrying a pizza box. “Hey, sorry I’m late- but I’ve got food. There was a car I didn’t recognize pulling up the street, Archie- are you expecting somebody?”

“It’s probably Kevin, he said he’d stop by-.” A loud knock on the front door cuts him off. “And there he is- it’s open!”

All of them are too caught up with their pizza to look up as the door opens, so distracted that they don’t even realize it’s _not_ Kevin standing in the doorway.

Veronica looks up first proclaiming, “Holy shit.”   

The boys both look up as well, both their eyes going wide at the sight of _Betty_ standing at Archie’s door, wearing a long-sleeved, white dress that hugs her frame and goes past her knees, showing off her bump.

 “Sorry I’m late,” she says, “You can’t fly when you’re pregnant.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all can scream at me for that cliffhanger if you want.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jughead hears Archie before he sees him; the front door slams shut and the sound of a pair of footsteps smacking down the concrete steps echo out into the street.
> 
> Archie meets him in the middle of the road looking more than one kind of pissed off. He pushes at Jughead’s chest as soon as he’s close enough to touch. “Seriously? You’re gonna do this right now? Throw some stupid fit just because she showed up? That’s ridiculous, Jughead. What the hell is your problem!?”
> 
> “Did you not hear what she just said? She was-.”
> 
> “I don’t care!” Archie yells back. “This week is already going to be hard enough as it is without you making a scene out of this so just- take a walk and get over yourself, _please._ ”
> 
> Archie continues to glare at Jughead as he retreats back inside; he wants to say that he feels guilty for storming out like he did, but he can’t. It wouldn’t be true.

All of them are so stunned by the sight of Betty that they don’t even know what to do. No one was expecting her to come at this point. So the fact that she’s standing at his front door now feels like some sort of a hallucination. The fact she’s _pregnant_ only adds to the weirdness of all of this.

Betty looks right at Archie and for just a split second he feels like a teenager again; he almost expects her to ask if he wants to go and get grilled cheese sandwiches at Pop’s. This fever dream just won’t end.

“Archie, I’m so sorry about your dad,” she says, eyes sympathetic. “I would’ve gotten here sooner, but the earliest train out of town was first thing this morning.”

He stumbles over his words as he moves into the foyer. “It’s- it’s okay, Betty, I- you’re fine. I, uh- I’m glad that you came.”

She gives him a tight, nervous smile; Betty looks over his shoulder and into the kitchen. “Hi, guys.”

Jughead doesn’t say anything; in true Veronica fashion, instead of a greeting she deadpans, “You’re _pregnant?”_

Betty laughs awkwardly. “Yeah, a little over seven months, actually… sorry, can we all sit? This belly is twice as heavy as it looks.”

The four of them move into the living room; Archie and Veronica both offer their arm to Betty as she sits down on the couch. Jughead stands off to the side with his arms crossed in front of him, looking as displaced as ever in this situation.

It’s all so _bizarre_.

“So, uh- congratulations, I guess?” Archie says, unsure. “Who’s the lucky guy?”

Betty loses her smile, the features of her face fall flat. “My ex, he um-… he’s not in the picture, anymore.”

“So- wait. You’re doing this alone?” Veronica asks.

“Yeah, but it’s okay. I’ve got a midwife on hand and my job allows me to work from home so-.”

“Being a reporter allows you to work from home? Full time?” Jughead interjects, toeing the line of being accusatory.

Betty looks at him shamefully. “I’m not a reporter. I’m a columnist for a paper in Vermont.”

“That’s where you went?” Archie asks. “Vermont?”

“Since I learned I was pregnant, yeah. For the most part I was in New York before that, though.”

Jughead’s jaw nearly hits the floor. _“New York!?”_

Betty doesn’t even try to meet his eye; luckily, Veronica changes the subject.

“Who else knows about your pregnancy, Betty?”

“In Riverdale? Just you guys, for now. I’d like to keep it that way if you guys don’t mind. This week isn’t about me.”

Jughead scoffs under his breath. “Figures.”

“Jughead,” Archie says shortly.

“You know what- no,” Jughead says, waving a hand in front of all them. “Sorry. I can’t be here right now.”

Jughead marches towards the door, not looking back at any of them for even a second before going outside, leaving the door wide open. He walks straight out into the middle of the street and drags his hands through his dark hair in frustration. 

She’s pregnant. He hasn’t seen Betty in nearly seven years and now she shows up fucking _pregnant_. Of all the people in the world that could have shown up in Riverdale it had to be her- it had to be Betty.

Jughead hears Archie before he sees him; the front door slams shut and the sound of a pair of footsteps smacking down the concrete steps echo out into the street.

Archie meets him in the middle of the road looking more than one kind of pissed off. He pushes at Jughead’s chest as soon as he’s close enough to touch. “Seriously? You’re gonna do this right now? Throw some stupid fit just because she showed up? That’s ridiculous, Jughead. What the hell is your problem!?”

“Did you not hear what she just said? She was-.”

“I don’t care!” Archie yells back. “This week is already going to be hard enough as it is without you making a scene out of this so just- take a walk and get over yourself, _please_.”

Archie continues to glare at Jughead as he retreats back inside; he wants to say that he feels guilty for storming out like he did, but he can’t. It wouldn’t be true.

Jughead decides that taking a walk wouldn’t be the worst thing right now. He turns on his heel, moving in the direction of his Dad’s place, hoping that FP has some light to shed on this whole shitty situation.

The worst part is- he can’t even tell what he’s more mad about: Betty showing up or the rest of the universe for taking her away from him in the first place.

 

 

As soon as Archie follows Jughead outside, Betty pulls her nude cardigan tighter around herself, saying, “I shouldn’t have come.”

“Hey, no- don’t beat yourself up about this,” Veronica says. “You came for Archie, not Jughead. He can get over himself.”

No more so does Veronica finish than does Archie come back inside, looking flustered.

“I’m sorry about that, Betty,” he says. “You’re welcome to stay here if you want to. My bed’s all yours if you want it.”

“Oh, no, I’m not gonna take your bed from you, Archie, really it’s-.”

“No, you should stay here, Betty," Veronica interjects. "We’ll have the whole gang back together again; it could be fun.”

Betty’s voice drops to a whisper as she says: “Is that really the best idea for all of us? Being around each other?”

The room goes quiet. A heaviness falls upon them at the all too cruel reminder as to why they chose- why they _had_ to stay away from each other in the first place for all this time.

Betty makes a sour face, regretting her words. “Sorry, that was- thank you, for the offer, Archie. Of course, I’ll stay here. Just let me know if there’s anything I can do to help.”

He nods, then retreats into the kitchen; Betty looks back to Veronica and finds her staring at her stomach. Not an uncommon thing with how far along she is, but still amusing nonetheless.

“It’s a girl, if you were wondering,” Betty supplies.

Veronica looks up at her and breaks into a smile. “A girl, really? Do you have a name picked out?”

“Not yet. I think I’m going to wait until the day of to decide what to call her, that way I’m not dwelling on it for too long or have other people trying to give me their two cents on what I should name my child.”

“I still can’t believe that you’re doing all of this by yourself. Leave it to men these days to skip out on us just when we need them most.”

Betty bites her tongue, wanting to correct her, but then decides against. She’s not ready to tell the full story of her ex just yet. That’s a conversation that can wait for another day- or never, if she’s lucky.

“You can touch, if you want to, Veronica. I won’t mind.” Betty offers.

Veronica bites her lip nervously before stretching her hand out, laying it across the top of Betty’s stomach. Her belly feels tight like a balloon that’s about ready to pop.

“Oh my god,” she whispers, “This is so _weird!”_

“Isn’t it? Imagine trying to sleep with this thing attached to you every night.”

“I can’t believe that we’re old enough to do stuff like this. Have a baby… lose parents.”

“Yeah,” Betty says solemnly. “Sometimes it comes earlier than we think it will.”

Veronica’s eyes go wide, realizing her mistake. “Oh my god, Betty. I’m so sorry, I didn’t-.”

“It’s okay, Veronica, really. I know you didn’t mean anything by it. Strange as it sounds, some days I forget that my Dad is dead. That was such a messy time for all of us, it’s still hard to make sense of it.”

“You know in all the hecticness of this week and everything else, I managed to forget junior year for a minute. I wish I could say that night in the woods with Penelope was the worst of it.”

“I know. That wasn’t even the half of it… nothing good ever seemed to happen to us in those woods.”

“Yeah,” Veronica whispers, rubbing Betty’s belly one last time. “That’s definitely for sure.”

 

 

 

_Junior Year. One hour post Gargoyle King._

The four of them end up going back to Archie’s after everything is over. Somewhere between the woods and the house, Betty breaks down again when things started to catch up to her in real time. “My dad is dead,” she kept repeating numbly, tears covering her cheeks. “My dad- oh my God, my dad is _dead_.”

There is nothing that any of them can do to console her; she’s stuck too deep inside of her own thoughts, spiraling out of control.

Once they all get cleaned up and trashed their dressy clothes- lord knows none of them ever wants to look at those outfits again- they gather in Archie’s room and all squeeze onto his queen-sized bed. Their knees all knock together as they sit. Despite having been kept up all night they’re all too wired to sleep, so none of them even bother to try yet.

Betty wipes at her eyes for the dozenth time using the sleeves of her grey, over-sized hoodie; she hasn’t stopped crying for even a minute.

“I don’t know why I’m s-so upset,” she says shakily, “My dad did horrible things to people. He was a monster.”

“Maybe,” Jughead mutters, trailing his hand down her spine. “But he’s still your dad. No one is going to put it past you for missing him.”

“Jughead’s right. Besides, he wasn’t always mean,” Archie supplies. “Remember when we were ten and he taught us how to take apart a car engine for our science fair project?”

“And I got grease and oil all over my new dress,” Betty finishes, a small smile creeping onto her face. “Mom complained about it for weeks, said that the stain would never come out but Dad didn’t care. He left our award up on the mantle for months.”

“I’m pretty sure he cheered the loudest when we placed second. Would’ve won if it weren’t for Reggie and his stupid remote-controlled car.”

Jughead makes a confused face. “I don’t remember that science fair. Where was I during all of this?”

At the same time Archie and Betty say, “Juvie,” and then the three of them share a laugh while remembering the incident with the matches.

“I wish I could have met your Dad earlier, B,” Veronica says. “He sounds a lot better than the rest of the town makes him out to be.”

“Yeah… yeah, he is- _was_.”

All of the light feelings that were in the room a second ago disappear. Only the sound of the AC kicking out air fills the space; a sharp intake of breath comes from Betty, quick and panicky.

“People were so mean last year when my dad got arrested but this- this is so much worse. I don’t know how I’m supposed to do this.”

“One day at a time,” Archie tells her. “You don’t need to deal with all of this right now. Nobody expects you to be fine right away.”

“And we’re gonna be here for you, Betty,” Veronica injects, reaching for Betty’s hands. “In whatever way that you need; we’ve got your back no matter what.”

Betty’s bottom lip trembles as she looks around at all of them.

“I love you guys.”

A chorus of _love you too, Betty,_ echoes after her and she musters up a smile. Betty stretches out her arms, reaching as far as she can to pull all of them into a hug. Jughead and Archie both take up one of her shoulders while Veronica rests her head in the middle of Betty’s chest, right under her chin.  

While they’re all still sitting there, still holding each other, Betty sighs and says: “I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t have all of you in my life.”

 

 

 

It’s dark outside by the time that Jughead makes it back to Archie’s; he spent the afternoon with his dad and sister just trying to clear his head. Much to his disdain, he hadn’t gotten very far.

Archie is sitting on the front porch when he walks up the street, as though he’d been waiting for Jughead. He looks up when Jughead steps into the yard. “Hey.”

“Hey,” Jughead replies and then hovers at the bottom of the steps.

“Where’ve you been?”

“I went to my- FP’s for a bit.”

Archie drops his shoulders in irritation. “You can say the word _Dad_ , Jughead, it’s not going to break me.”

“Sorry, I- I’m sorry. For all of it. I shouldn’t have stormed out this afternoon. I was being ridiculous.”

Archie shrugs, “Well, yeah. But that’s kind of your thing.”

Jughead rolls his tongue inside of his mouth, fighting off a smug smile. “Fair,” he replies.  

Archie smirks in return then scoots over so that Jughead has room to sit; Jughead draws his knees up, laying his arms across them, matching Archie’s stance. Jughead isn’t sure what to say here. He feels like he needs to apologize again but can’t explain why.

“I don’t blame you for being mad at her,” Archie says after a beat of silence. “I don’t like it either- any of this. But we agreed not to talk. Talking only ever gets us in trouble. And, for the record, Betty’s the only one of us who managed to stick to that even halfway. We can’t blame her for doing what we asked, that’s not fair.”

“I’m not mad that she didn’t tell us, or even that she’s pregnant. I’m mad that she lied about leaving New York. That’s something we were both supposed to do; that’s what _we_ agreed on.”

Archie almost laughs as he looks over at Jughead. “Haven’t we all been lying for the last eight years?”

Much as he wants to, Jughead can’t even try and deny it. That only makes it worse. Jughead looks away from Archie, wringing his fingers together. This is the closest that the two of them have come to even almost talking about that night; most of the time Jughead tries not to think about it, he finds other ways to get it out of his head. But since he’s stepped foot back in Riverdale, it’s all that he can think about.

“You know it’s coming up, right?” Jughead offers. “The anniversary of that night from spring break, it’s a few days from now.”

“I don’t want to talk about that night.”

“No, I know, I was just saying-.”

“Jesus, Jughead will you just _drop it?”_ Archie snaps, making Jughead stiffen up; Archie sighs, shutting his eyes with a look of regret. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to- I shouldn’t have yelled.”

“It’s fine, Archie.”

“You don’t have to do that.”

Jughead furrows his brow, confused. “Do what?”

“Let me get away with being a dick. You don’t have to give me a free pass just because my dad- … just cause I’m having a bad week.”

“I’m not,” Jughead tells him sincerely. “I’m giving you a pass because I know you regret what we did that night just as much as the rest of us. Probably even more so, knowing the way that your brain works.”

Archie nods sadly, looking away from him. He rubs at the back of his neck then looks over his shoulder at the front door. He claps Jughead on the shoulder as he stands up. “C’mon,” he says, “let’s go inside. I think there’s still pizza left from lunch.”

Laughter reaches their ears as soon the front door opens; Betty and Veronica are still sitting on the couch, their legs stretched out across the sofa and pressed against each other.

The smile on Betty’s face is so pure and honest that Jughead hopes it never leaves; even after all this time, she still has the ability to capture his attention without even trying. Though, of course, the same second that she sees him again, her eyes lose some of their light, her smile retreats back into a straight line.

He wishes he could go back in time and stop himself from storming out of here this morning, for making Betty upset.

“Hey,” Jughead says.

Betty’s reply is quiet and cautious, “Hi.” She’s got her guard up because of him and _God_ does Jughead hate that.

He gives Veronica a silent _could you give us a minute_ kind of look and waits for her to retreat into the kitchen before talking again. “I’m really sorry, for storming out of here earlier.” He says honestly, “I was being a dick, and unfairly so, too. I shouldn’t have done that. You don’t have to forgive me; believe me, I don’t expect you to.”

She nods, “I appreciate the apology, Jughead.”

_Nearly seven years since I heard her say my name and it still makes my heart sing._

Jughead clears his throat and prays that she doesn’t notice. “Maybe I can make it up to you later this week, before you go back to Vermont. We could get Pop’s, if you want?”

Betty nods again, a smile creeping back onto her face. “Okay. Sounds good.”

Jughead nods, rubbing his neck as he walks away. Hopefully, if he’s lucky- he won't completely fuck up with Betty again. Maybe they can even get back to a place of being friends, or something close to that, at least.

_I don’t think I’ll be able to forgive myself if I let her slip away again._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter is bughead/Betty heavy so if that's your thing then stay tuned!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Do you think they’re going to be mad?” Betty asks even though he has his back turned to her.
> 
> “Hm?”
> 
> “Archie and Veronica, do you think they’ll be mad that we’re leaving together?”
> 
> “Honestly? I don’t think that it’s any of their business.”
> 
> “But we promised, Jug.” 
> 
> He whirls around to face her, looking annoyed. “Yeah and since when has anyone ever kept a promise in Riverdale, huh?”
> 
> Betty looks away, swallowing her words. As much as she hates to admit it, he’s right. Promises around here tend to die as soon as they’re spoken.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: There's some abusive language in this chapter, (gaslighting, body shaming) just a heads up.

Somehow, Jughead manages to sleep until ten the next morning. He chalks it up to the dark basement and crappy couch; most days he’s lucky to even sleep past.

When he comes upstairs, Betty is stretched out on the couch with a blanket draped over her legs and a book in her lap. She’s halfway through a piece of pizza when she sees him.

“Oh, hey,” she muffles through a mouthful. “Sorry, I finished the pizza, I hope that’s okay.”

“It’s fine, Betty, really- is Archie here?”

Betty shakes her head, “He and Veronica went to put some final details in place before the wake tomorrow; I think V mostly went for emotional support.”

Jughead shrugs his shoulders. “Makes sense. Those two always did work best as a duo.”

“Yeah, yeah they definitely did.” She says with a fond kind of smile on her face.

There’s a question nagging at the back of his brain, one that Jughead hasn’t been able to shake since she walked in yesterday and tilted his whole world on its side. He can’t hold it in anymore.

“Betty, is it-,” Jughead tries to find the right words. “Can we talk?”

“Sure… about what?”

“About the two of us; what went wrong with us?”

Betty closes her book and shrugs. “We fell apart, Jughead. That was it.”

“But that’s just it. This is _us_ we’re talking about. We were supposed to be invincible.”

“Nobody is, Jughead.”

“We were,” he says firmly. “For a while, at least.”

Betty’s voice drops to a whisper, a knowing look on her face. “Yeah. Yeah, we were.”

“So? What gives? What happened to us?”          

 She shrugs again and says, “Life did.”

 

 

_Post senior year. The morning before they leave for college._

Betty and Jughead are in Jughead’s room; she’s watching him pack up the last of his clothes. They both leave for New York tomorrow. Neither one will come right out and say it, but they’re both terrified.

“Do you think they’re going to be mad?” Betty asks even though he has his back turned to her.

“Hm?”

“Archie and Veronica, do you think they’ll be mad that we’re leaving together?”

“Honestly? I don’t think that it’s any of their business.”

“But we promised, Jug.” 

He whirls around to face her, looking annoyed. “Yeah and since when has anyone ever kept a promise in Riverdale, huh?”

Betty looks away, swallowing her words. As much as she hates to admit it, he’s right. Promises around here tend to die as soon as they’re spoken.

Jughead sighs. He drops the t-shirt he’d been holding and walks over to the bed and sits in front of Betty. “Sorry,” he mutters. “I didn’t mean to snap, I’m just ready to get the hell out of dodge.”  

“I get that… somedays I think we’re never going to get the chance to leave.” Betty wraps her hand around one of Jughead’s and rubs her thumb across his knuckles. Her bottom lip wobbles, tears forming in her eyes. “I don’t want to be here anymore, Jughead.” 

“We don’t have to come back, Betty. Once we hit the road tomorrow that can be it. No one is going to keep us here anymore. It’s our turn to decide. Us against the world, just like always.”

“Always,” Betty echoes with a watery laugh. “I don’t hate the sound of that.”

Jughead smiles sadly back at her, leaving a kiss on her forehead. Then, after a beat, he says, “C’mon, these shirts aren’t going to pack themselves.”

 

 

 

The first few months in New York are hard in all of the expected ways. Navigating their way around campus is difficult, as is trying to make their way through a brand-new town without getting lost.

Betty and Jughead both opted to live off campus. By some miracle they found a place two blocks from their school, barely the size of a shoe box, already furnished, and something that they could both afford. It was something for just the two of them- a place that they could call their own and not have to worry about what anyone else thinks. It was _perfect_.

Or, at least, they thought it was.

Jughead’s birthday came and went without so much as a word about it from either of them, both too caught up in school and their work studies to look up half of the time. It was a no brainer to them that they _wouldn’t_ be going home for the holidays; that had been decided the second that the _Welcome to Riverdale_ sign was in their rearview mirror.

FP was baffled by the whole thing, didn’t understand what it was that was keeping them in New York- keeping them from coming home, he had said- but Jughead didn’t bother with an explanation.

He didn’t even want to think about what might happen if he dragged his dad into this whole mess.

Christmas and New Year’s Eve consisted of splurging on Chinese food and being huddled together on their crappy excuse for a couch, wishing that they could put on the fire.

“I wonder what my mom and Polly are doing right now,” Betty asks out loud.

Jughead goes stiff next to her. “Have you- have they tried to call you at all?”

Betty shakes her head, keeping her eyes averted; he relaxes just a bit.

“It’s better this way, Betts,” he reminds her. “It’s keeping us safe.”

“Yeah. Yeah, I guess.”  

 

 

 

It’s around the six-month mark of being in New York that things start to go sour, that their shame starts to ruin them.

Jughead gets home late from his work-study smelling like the soup they’d served for dinner and finds Betty already home, curled up on the couch and crying.

“Betty?” he asks carefully. “Betty what is it?”

She looks at him tearfully, panic practically oozing out of her pores. “There was a car accident outside of my creative writing class today and I- I saw the whole thing, Jughead. I _can’t-_.”

Jughead rushed over to the couch and wraps her up in his arms. He tucks her head under his chin, trying to rid himself of his own fear. “That wasn’t us, Betty,” he says, still terrified. “That wasn’t our fault.”

For the next hour, Jughead doesn’t even consider letting her go. He keeps a tight hold on Betty as she shakes and cries, willing himself not to do the same thing.

After that night, Betty and Jughead find it harder and harder to be around each other, both of them too wrapped up in their own guilt over what happened that night in the spring. They stop acting like themselves. All of the noises and pressure from school is becoming too much to handle.

It dawns on Jughead one day, right before the end of the school year that it’s been weeks since he and Betty have been intimate with each other- sharing a bed hardly counts at this point- and he has a sick feeling as to what’s coming. If he’s being honest with himself, he’s known it was coming for a while.

Everything comes to a head on the last day of classes, not even ten minutes after Betty gets home from her last final. Jughead is already there, waiting for her on the couch; she barely even looks up at him when she comes in.

“Betty, can we talk please?”

“I’m tired, Jughead, I don’t want to-.”

“It’ll take ten minutes, Betts, can we please just-.”

“Just what?” she snaps at him, finally meeting his eye. “What, huh? You wanna talk about how we can’t even look at each other anymore? Or how we’re never here at the same time anymore unless we’re sleeping? And even then it’s like we’re a million miles apart because, _newsflash_ , we can’t even hold a normal conversation.”

“Don’t say that,” Jughead tries.

“Why not? There’s nothing here for us anymore. We’re _fucked_ , don’t you get that? God, we never should have come here.”  

“Coming here was something _we_ decided on. The two of us, together. We can’t go back and change that. What the hell are we supposed to do about it now?”

“Goddammit, _I don’t know!”_

The sound of Betty’s yelling echoes off the wall, staying in the small space even after it’s over. The tension is unlike anything either of them has ever felt before. They stand there, nearly eight feet apart and bodies rigid, waiting for the one of them to make the next move, to say something that will finally break them.

This time, as it turns out, it’s Jughead’s move.

“I think both of us should leave,” he says, hating himself for it instantly. “I don’t just mean the apartment, I mean New York. That way there’s no worrying about running into one another; we don’t have to keep acting like this relationship still works. There’s no point in lying to ourselves.”

“Okay. And what about school?” Betty asks, stiffly. “I’m not going to leave just because we br-.”

“We can figure that out later, on our own time but- I don’t think that we can be around each other anymore. Or at least for a while.”

She scoffs, crossing her arms. “And how long is a while? Six months? A year?” 

Jughead shrugs, “I don’t know. As long as it takes to get over this whole mess.”

_Maybe forever,_ he thinks; he wouldn’t dare say that out loud. He’d never forgive himself for it, hell he’s not sure how he’s going to forgive himself for leaving her to begin with.

“Fine,” Betty says shortly, not looking at him again. “We’ll leave… Lord knows something like this was bound to happen sometime.”

She walks away from after that, out of the apartment entirely and he doesn’t bother with following her. He knows that’s not going to fix this at this point.

He’s not sure that anything can.

 

 

 

_Present Day._

“We had some nasty fights back in the day,” Betty notes, “But that one was definitely the worst. God, I was so horrible to you.”

“It was a horrible time for both of us.”

“That doesn’t excuse what I said. You don’t have to cut me a break just because I feel guilty now.”

“Okay,” Jughead remarks, sitting on the opposite end of the couch. “But there’s something that I don’t get. Why’d you stay? …Why didn’t you leave New York like we’d both agreed?”

“Because I had to know that I could do it on my own, you know? I needed to prove to myself that I didn’t need someone else around just to keep my head above water. So much of my life has gone wrong and I just- I wanted to feel in control of things for once. I’d never gotten my chance with that before.”

Jughead nods, "I can understand that. And- not that it's any of my business, but you didn't have much to say about your ex the other day. What's the story there?"

Betty's face goes tight with discomfort.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," he quickly supplies.

"No, no, it's not that, I just, uh-... I'm not sure that I know how to."

"Starting from the beginning never hurt."

Betty laughs a little, "Right, from the beginning…"

 

 

 

Betty meets Jeremiah during the first week of her intro to Journalism class in her sophomore year of college, barely three months after her break up with Jughead. From the jump, Jeremiah was unlike anybody else that she’d ever met- which is part of why Betty liked him so much. It’s also why she was so quick to say yes to a first date.

“Get lunch with me,” he said assuredly when he stopped her coming out of the lecture hall.

Betty raised an eyebrow at him in curiosity; no one had ever been so forward with her before. “And why would I do that?”

“You’re going to be a journalist, aren’t you?”

“A crime reporter, actually.”

“Then my point still stands. All of the best reporters get to know their surroundings and do field research before starting a job. Consider it familiarizing yourself with the community- say, tomorrow? Around noon?”

Before she could even think about whether or not it was a good idea, Betty heard herself saying yes. Besides, getting lunch never hurt anybody, right?

That lunch was one for the record books as far as Betty was concerned. Herself and Jeremiah talked about everything and anything under the sun. He could make her laugh until he thought her sides were going to split. After that first date, Jeremiah kissed Betty right outside of her apartment without even bothering to ask- the same one that she spent the first year in New York with Jughead in.

After it was over, Betty, breathless and confused, asked, “Why did you do that?”

Jeremiah gave a nearly wicked smile and said, “Because you’re just too pretty to resist.”

And goddammit, for whatever reason, Betty was _hooked_.  

Things were good through the first two years and a half. Betty and Jeremiah moved in together after he graduated, found a bigger place for the both of them in Queens and made a little life for themselves.

When Jeremiah popped the question in front of a group of friends at a party a few weeks later, Betty cried. The two of them hadn’t talked about it all, getting married, she wasn’t sure that this was what she wanted- but Jeremiah seemed so insistent about it. So, just like that first date a million moons ago, Betty finds herself saying yes before she could consider any of it.

She wishes now that she had given everything a second thought, that she’d taken more time in thinking about what she really wants. Or whether or not Jeremiah is who she really wants to spend her life with.

Their three-year anniversary is a night Betty wishes that she could forget. The two of them had plans for dinner at some fancy place right on the edge of the city- Jeremiah’s pick. Betty had walked out of their bedroom shortly before they were supposed to leave, wearing a fitted black dress and matching black wedges.

Jeremiah leaning against the counter in the kitchen. He barely looked up from his phone for more than two seconds before saying, “Are you sure you want to wear that?”

Betty halted in her tracks, looking down at herself. It was the same dress she had been wearing when they got engaged, one of her favorites.

“What’s wrong with it?”

He looked up at her like she just asked what two plus two is. “It’s too tight. And way too revealing for this restaurant.”

The dress showed off her breasts a bit, yes- but not so much that Betty worried about showing too much of herself. At least, not until now, anyway.

“I thought you liked it when I showed some cleavage.”

“Yeah, but not when we’re about to go out in public, Betty. Don’t be stupid.”

 It took everything in her not to gasp. No one has ever called her that word before- much less someone who Betty is romantically involved with. A tight feeling forms in her throat, making her feel like she’s going to cry.

“It’s just dinner, Jeremiah, it’s not that big of deal-.”

“Jesus Christ, will please just go change? We’re going to be late.”

“But Jer-.”

“I said go change,” he barks, glaring at her.

Betty is so thrown by this whole situation that she doesn’t know what to do. Not wanting to upset him more, she turns around and walks back into their bedroom, shutting the door behind her. She leans against it, biting her lip as her eyes start to water. She dabs at her eyes, forcing herself to breathe deeply as she shrugs out of her dress.

She can’t stop thinking, _what the hell have I gotten myself into?_

Betty doesn’t even realize how long she’s been standing there just staring at the dress on the floor until there’s a knock on the door, making her gasp.

“Are you dressed yet? We’re already late.” Jeremiah says, his tone irritated.

Betty tries to think of a decent lie like _I’m not feeling good all of the sudden lets reschedule_ or _I forgot about my deadline tomorrow how about we order in instead_ , but nothing she thinks of seems worthy enough. Though she’s completely lost her appetite, she doesn’t want to upset him any more than she already has; she can’t cancel dinner.

“Y-yeah,” she says through the door. “I’ll be out in a minute, I promise.”

Betty goes to her closet and picks out the first thing that she looks at, a deep olive dress that goes to her knees and barely shows any skin. It’s not her favorite, but it’ll have to do for tonight. She touches up her makeup and then walks back into the living room.

Cautiously, she asks, “Better?” 

Jeremiah just shrugs. “Sure, it’s fine. Let’s leave.”

Betty spends all of dinner carefully picking her words, tiptoeing around every little thing that Jeremiah says. It makes her feel sick, having to walk on eggshells around someone who swears up and down that he loves her. There’s a paranoid feeling that she hasn’t felt since high school building up in her again and she hates it.

That night after getting home, Betty pulls out her phone, already halfway through the motions of calling Veronica, wanting to talk. She nearly presses dial before she remembers that that’s not an option anymore, it hasn’t been in years and likely won’t be again. That tight feeling in her throat is back again and she hates it.

Betty set her phone down before she can do something else that she regrets. Then, she picks her black dress up from off the floor and throws it away without thinking about it twice.

 

 

 

“I wish I could say that that was the worst of it, but it was just the beginning of it,” Betty tells Jughead. “I don’t know how I didn’t notice it before; I must have been so blind to it all. He started making comments about what I was eating or make snide comments about the people I was hanging out with. After a while I hardly left the apartment unless I had to; I felt stuck with him. I wasted five years with him… I don’t even want to think about what would’ve happened if I stuck around.”

 “It’s not your fault for not noticing,” Jughead replies, trying to be reassuring. “People only show us their true color went they want us to see them.”

Betty doesn’t react at all, just lowers her voice and says, “I wish I could have realized that before he started cheating on me.”

Jughead feels his blood boil. “How close did you get? To marrying him, I mean.”

“Three weeks,” she says. “I went to the doctor because I hadn’t been feeling well and- as it would turn out- I was already two months pregnant. I was mortified. We hadn’t talked about kids at all, I was sure that he’d be furious with me. I came home and caught him in bed with a girl who lived in our building, he didn’t even bother to get out of bed.”

“Seriously?”

“Not a word of a lie. The next day I packed a bag while he was at work and left New York, got on the first bus out of town and blocked his number. I pawned off the engagement ring to put a down payment on my apartment in Vermont. I haven’t been back to the city since.”  

“Damn. What did he say when you told him you were pregnant?”

Betty stays silent; when she doesn’t meet his eye, Jughead feels all of the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

“ _Betty_.”

She looks up at him finally, eyes tearful and afraid. “I couldn’t tell him that I was pregnant, I barely got away from him the first time. I couldn’t risk that- I couldn’t risk bringing a child into this whole mess. He’d never let me leave again. There wasn’t- I didn’t kn-know what else to do.”   

On a whim, Jughead grabs Betty’s hand and pulls both of them to their feet; he can’t just sit there and let her cry. He wraps his arms around Betty’s shoulders the same way he always used to. It’s been years since they’ve done anything like this but it’s still muscle memory for the both of them; Betty’s arms come around Jughead’s waist, her head falling into the curve of his shoulder.

Gingerly he cradles the back of her head, quietly reminding her, “He can’t get you to anymore, Betty… he’s not going to hurt you again, I promise.”

Betty nods into Jughead’s t-shirt, holding on tighter; he’s not exactly in the position to be making promises- certainly not to someone he hasn’t seen in seven years- but if it’s going to make Betty feel better, then Jughead would do just about anything.

While he’s still holding her, he thinks to himself, _I hope this man never finds Betty again or it’ll be the last thing that he does._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did y'all catch that hint??? Yes? No? Maybe?
> 
> See you soon!


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Archie takes a step towards the back door, ready to go investigate for himself when there’s a rap on the front door. Archie freezes right where he’s at; Veronica touches his back again.
> 
> “Are you ready?”
> 
> “No,” Archie says honestly. “But I gotta face it sometime.”
> 
> Betty comes up behind him and hooks her chin over his shoulder, hands circling around his arm. “We’ve got you, Archie; we’re gonna be here the whole time.”
> 
> _Yeah,_ he thinks to himself, _that’s what I’m afraid of._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The longest chapter to date and also has my favorite interaction so far. Some serpents and other old friends make an appearance. Get your tissues ready cause it's a doozy.

For sake of convenience, Archie decides to hold the wake at house. All of Fred’s things and photos are already here, there’s no point in hauling it all across town just to bring it back here again. Archie’s hands start to sweat as soon as the clock shows four in the afternoon; people are going to start arriving any minute.

Veronica comes up behind him Archie, laying a hand in the middle of his back. He tries to hide the small flinch that it causes.

Veronica asks, “Are you gonna be okay?”

He rolls his shoulders instead of rolling his eyes. “Do I really have a choice?”

He’s been holding himself back from thinking about his dad. It’s not that he’s not sad about all of this- he’s just got a sick feeling that once all of these emotions he’s been pushing down finally catch up to him then he won't be able to turn them off.

Archie moves into the kitchen, already tired of hovering by the front door; Betty is standing in front of the counter stirring a pitcher of lemonade, the second one, it seems. There’s a plate of cheese and crackers set up next to her.

“You really didn’t have to do all of this, Betty.”

She waves him off, “Oh, nonsense, I came to help. There’s no sense in you doing all of this by yourself.”

Archie wants to make some comment on her choice to be a single mother but then decides against it. There’s nothing funny about being callous towards people who are trying to help, and that’s one horse that he’d rather not get bit by.

“Where’s Jughead?”

“The garage, I think- said that he was looking for something.”

“Looking for something? Looking for what?”

Betty shrugs, “Didn’t say.”   

Archie takes a step towards the back door, ready to go investigate for himself when there’s a rap on the front door. Archie freezes right where he’s at; Veronica touches his back again.

“Are you ready?”

“No,” Archie says honestly. “But I gotta face it sometime.”

Betty comes up behind him and hooks her chin over his shoulder, hands circling around his arm. “We’ve got you, Archie; we’re gonna be here the whole time.”

_Yeah_ , he thinks to himself, _that’s what I’m afraid of._

///

Within the first hour, there are more people in the house than have been there in years. People that Archie hasn’t seen in years- people he didn’t even realize his dad knew keep coming up to him and saying things _like he was such a good guy your, dad. We loved Fred so much, you must miss him terribly. If you need anything, anything at all, Archie, just let us know. Anything for Fred’s son._

If he has to hear _it’s such a shame_ one more time then he’s going to spit in someone’s face.

In hindsight, he should have expected that his former classmates would show up; most of them never moved out of town. His skin crawls every time somebody mentions how long it’s been since they’ve seen Archie. Almost all of them make a comment about how Archie, Betty, Veronica, and Jughead more or less disappeared after graduation- that everyone kind of thought no one would ever see them again since no one had heard from them.

Archie keeps thinking to himself:  _if you knew why we left you wouldn’t want us to come back._

Later, after some of Fred’s old classmates have stopped talking Archie’s ear off, he looks up and finds Reggie Mantle standing in the doorway, wearing a simple grin.

“You know you really are the last person I ever expected to show up in Riverdale again,” he says. 

Archie just shakes his head, fighting off his own grin. He steps forward, letting Reggie give him a brief hug.

“I’m really sorry about your pops, man. It’s crazy how shit like that just happens out of nowhere.”

“Yeah, thanks, Reggie; I know what you mean. How’ve you been? I hope you didn’t come all the way to Riverdale just to see my sorry ass.”

Reggie laughs a little, “I didn’t, don’t worry. My old mans opening up a new auto shop over in Greendale and asked me to come help. Well, that- and Josie would kill me if I didn’t send some love on her behalf. She would’ve come but she couldn’t get out of Atlanta.”

“Thank her for me; you guys are still going strong?”

“Yeah,” Reggie says, holding up his left hand, showing off his ring. “We’re getting married at the end of next month.”

Archie gapes at him. “Holy _shit_ , dude. Congratulations!”

“Thanks, man. The wedding is gonna be here in town- you’re more than welcome to come if you think you’re gonna be sticking around. I’m sure Josie would love to have you play something.”

Archie feels his chest go tight; he hadn’t considered sticking around after this week was over. He just assumed he’d go back to Seattle and get back into his music gig, hopefully, get back to his normal life. He’s got more to think about than he originally realized.

“Uh, yeah- maybe,” he stammers, “I’ll have to see what my schedule looks like.” 

Reggie nods, sensing the trepidation. He claps his hands together then says, “Alright, well I can’t stay long, I gotta get back to the dealership- but maybe we can get lunch before you leave town again?”

Archie nods, “Yeah, yeah definitely,” and doesn’t believe himself for a second. He’s so exhausted from having to put on a fake smile all day.

Archie turns around and spots Jughead coming in through the back door, weaving his way through the crowd of people in the kitchen. He hasn’t seen Jughead in more than an hour. He’s carrying a box under his arm that Archie doesn’t recognize; that must be what Betty said he was looking for.

Veronica and Betty make it over to Jughead before Archie can, talking quietly to each other. All of them shut up as soon as Archie walks over to them.

“What’s in the box?”

Before any of them can answer, a shrill shriek comes from the front door, startling all of them and making Betty nearly spill her lemonade all over herself.

“COUSIN!” Cheryl yells, looking right at Betty and all kinds of surprised. “You’re _pregnant_!?”

Veronica whispers, “Oh my God, you didn’t tell Cheryl?”

Betty bites back, “To be fair I wasn’t exactly planning on being in Riverdale this week.”

Before she can say anything else, Cheryl is already in front of her with Toni hot on her heels. “How on earth could not tell me about this? You _have_ to let me throw you a baby shower!”

“Oh, no, Cheryl- that’s not-.”

“Oh don’t be silly Betty, it’d be my pleasure. Come, let’s go talk party themes.”

Cheryl takes Betty by the hand, dragging her into the living room despite the bewildered look in Betty’s eye; Veronica follows them in, leaving Archie alone with Toni in the doorway to the kitchen.

“Sorry about that, you know how Cheryl is.”

“It’s alright, I know she means well. It’s good to see you, Toni. Are the Serpents still keeping you busy?”

She nods, “That’s the price of being Serpent Queen, I guess. But it’s good, we keep to ourselves for the most part and try to help when we can. Sweet Pea and Fangs are out on a job today otherwise they would’ve come with.”

Archie shrugs. “It’s alright, really. We all got our own lives to worry about, right?”

“Yeah, that’s for sure. I talked to big man this morning and he said he would be here, has he come by yet?”

He raises an eyebrow in confusion, “Big man? Who-”

Before he can finish his question, he hears the front door swing open for the hundredth time that day and Jughead appears next to him, speaking to someone over his shoulder.

“Hey, Dad,” he says.

Archie feels his entire body freeze in a second. Numbly he looks over, eyes landing on the man who has just entered his house.

FP looks older in all of the ways that Archie thought that he might; he’s got a few more laugh lines and grey hairs around his edges. He’s wearing a grey suit and tie and some worn out dress shoes; last time that Archie saw FP they were both down at the station and FP was dressed in his sheriff’s uniform.

The bone-chilling fear that he’d felt back then is all rushing back to Archie right now.

“Archie?” Veronica asks, having magically appeared beside him. “Archie, are you okay?”

Before he can respond, FP is looking right at him with eyes full of empathy; Archie feels like he can’t even move. FP takes a step towards him and Archie feels his flight response start to kick in, his throat starts to close up.

_I can’t be here. I can’t face him- I’m not ready for that._

“Hey, Archie,” FP says, holding his hand out for a shake. “How you doin’?”

_You know. You know how I’m fucking feeling. This is the worst thing that’s ever happened to me._

Archie’s stops his hand away half way through reaching for FP and it shakes in front of him.

“I, um-,” he stammers. “I’m sorry- excuse me.” Archie avoids the eyes of everyone as he rushes out the back door. He stops at the top of the back steps while trying to decide his next move.

He’s got half a mind to just leave, to jump in the first car that he can find and drive all the way back to Seattle. But there is another voice running through his head, drowning out the pounding blood in his ears. It’s one that sounds just like his dad, telling him _don’t run. Don’t run away from this, son. You’re stronger than that._

After a minute of careful, measured breathing- Archie sits down on the top step and lets his hands hang down at his sides while his brain continues to go into overdrive- he’s going to ride this out for as long as he has to.

 

 

 

_Back inside._

Veronica watches with wide eyes as Archie practically runs away from FP Jones. It's odd; she thought Archie would be a bit more relieved to see FP.

"Archie, wait," she says, ready to go after him. A hand on her forearm stops her; it’s Jughead.  

“Veronica, hold on,” he says. “Don’t follow him yet.”

“But he’s upset.”

“I know, but we’ve been crowding him this whole week. Giving him five minutes to himself wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.”

Veronica bites her lip, frustrated that he’s right. She resists the urge to follow him and moves into the living room, sitting next to Betty on the couch.

Cheryl still hasn’t stopped talking her ear off about nursery decorations.

“Cheryl, I live in a one-bedroom in Jericho,” Betty says. “I don’t have space for a full-sized crib let alone a formal nursery, can we please let this go?”

“You mean to tell me that you, your beau, _and_ your baby are going to be sharing a living space? You’ll never have any room to breathe Betty, that’s no way to live!”

Betty clams up at the insinuation of a partner in all of this and Veronica takes her chance to swoop in and save the day.

“How about we give the baby talk a rest, Cheryl. Some of us have had a long week.” _And some of us are still trying to figure out whether our ex-boyfriend really wants us here,_ she thinks.

Cheryl rolls her eyes, “Fine. Mon Cherie and I have to get going anyway- give Red Steel a squeeze for me once he’s finished having a conniption. And Betty, I expect you to call me the _second_ that you go into labor- I already missed a blossom baby birth once and I most definitely won’t let that happen a second time, understood?”

Betty sighs, “Sure, Cheryl. I’ll call you, and tell Archie that you stopped by.” 

“Wonderful. Veronica, always a pleasure- Toni! Let’s go, those dinner reservations aren’t going to make themselves.”

Toni sends both Veronica and Betty off with a wave, and once the front door shuts behind them Betty breathes a sigh of relief then looks over at Veronica.

“Thank you, for coming to my rescue.”

“Don’t mention it; a Lodge never passes up the chance to play hero,” she says and both of them laugh.

Jughead walks over, failing to hide his curiosity. “What’s so funny?”

“Oh, nothing- just girl talk. Has Archie come in yet?”

“I don’t think so, I think I’ll go check on him in a minute- but do you guys need anything? A refill? Some crackers.”

Betty shakes her head, smiling lightly. “I think we’re okay, but thanks, Jughead.”

“Of course,” he says smiling back at her; Veronica doesn’t fail to notice how they barely look away from each other as he walks off towards the kitchen.

“I can’t help but notice that you and Jughead have been more jovial with each other today. Anything that I should know about?”  

Betty shakes her head again. “Nothing is going on, I swear. But we had a really good talk yesterday, got some things off of our chests. I think we’re in a good place now, or a better one, anyway. What about you? Do you think there’s anything in the works with you and Archie again?”

Veronica tucks her hair behind her ear, lightly shaking her head. “I’m not even sure that he really wanted me to show up here,” she says honestly.

“ _Veronica_.”

“I’m serious, B. I don’t even know what to say to him half of the time. This whole week has been about Archie and his dad and I haven’t even _talked_ to mine since high school. There’s too much space between us now; how could Archie possibly need my help with any of this?”

“He called you first didn’t he?”

“Well, yeah, but-.”

“Then that’s it, there’s your proof.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because last time something went wrong with his dad he called _me_ first. Out of all of us, out of every one of his friends he could have chosen to ask for help he picked you, Veronica. Believe me, Archie needs you more than you think he does.”

Betty takes a long sip of her lemonade and Veronica entertains herself with a loose thread on the end of her dress skirt. Hopefully Betty is right; hopefully Veronica didn’t make a mistake in coming here.

Hopefully Archie will give her a chance before the week is over.

 

 

 

_Back outside._

He’s been sitting there for all of fifteen minutes before Archie hears the back door open behind him; this first thing out of his mouth is, “Ronnie, please don’t make me go back in there.”

A gruff voice responds, “I guess it’s a good thing I’m not Veronica.”

Archie whirls around with eyes like a deer in headlights when he comes face to face with FP Jones. He’s got a box under his arm- the same one that Jughead was holding earlier.

“Mr. Jones. Sorry, I didn’t-.”

“It’s okay, Archie… Can I sit?”

Archie shifts to the left to so that FP can sit next to him. He’s starting to feel seventeen all over again from sitting in such close quarters with FP; he’s got no clue what he’s supposed to say to him.

FP settles the box between his feet, leaving Archie to further wonder what the hell is in there. Instead of asking, Archie says: “I’m sorry for running out earlier, I wasn’t-.”

“Hey, hey, no- it’s okay. I don’t blame you for freaking out; lord knows your dad damn near did the same thing at Artie’s services.”

Archie feels the back of his neck prickle. “You were at my grandfather’s services?”

FP nods. “My first funeral of many, as it would turn out. Of course, we were younger than you are now when that happened, but that whole weekend was like watching a car wreck happen in slow motion. I can’t seem to forget it.”

“I wish I could forget getting that phone call… every time I fall asleep I wake up in a cold sweat thinking about it. I can’t get it out of my head.”  

“Yeah, I know what you mean. I remember your dad in the first few days, after everything… he was a lot like you are now. Didn’t want anyone to know he was hurting as much as he was.”

Archie closes his eyes, swallowing thickly; he can practically feel FP’s eyes burning a hole into the side of his head. “Is it that obvious?”

“When you know what to look for, then yes.”

He links his hands together as he opens his eyes again; Archie’s gaze falls to the box at FP’s feet.

FP pulls the box into this lap, sliding the lid off. “I hope you don’t mind that I asked Jughead to do some digging. I had a feeling Fred wouldn’t keep this far out of reach.”

“Keep what out of reach?”

It’s then that Archie notices the chicken scratch on the top of the box, _Spring 1992_ ; it’s without a doubt his dad’s handwriting. There’s an old baseball mitt in the box, a worn-out ball covered in signatures tuck inside of it.

“Did he ever tell you about this baseball game? From our junior year?”

“I don’t know,” Archie shrugs. “Maybe. What’s the big deal about it?” 

FP smiles fondly as he remembers. “It was the last game of the year- state finals, too. We were up against the Baxter High Ravens, the only other undefeated team in the league. Our teams had been tied up for most of the game, but Riverdale managed to catch the lead in the last inning. The only problem was the Ravens still had an at-bat.” 

“Alright… where’s my dad in all of this?”

“He’s playing center field burning through sunflower seeds like you wouldn’t believe.”

Archie grins a little bit and FP continues.

“So we’re up by one, right? We just need one more out to make sure that the game is ours, but Baxter’s got a guy on first and Kirk Montgomery- easily their best player- is up next. Our guy tries to throw him off, but on the second pitch Kirk cracks the ball off the end of his bat and sends it flying. Everyone was sure that we were done for.”

“What happened next?”

“The ball is headed straight towards the fence and it’s moving like a bottle rocket. But Fred makes a break for it; I swear I’ve never seen him move so fast in my whole life. At the very last second, right before it’s about to reach the fence, your dad leaps and the ball lands right in the palm of his mitt and ends the game. The smile on his face afterward… there was nothing like it. The whole town talked about that game for months. Fred insisted on keeping the game ball and retiring his mitt, said he wanted to be able to remember it for years to come, maybe pass it on to his children someday.”

Archie, try as he might, can’t recall his dad ever telling him this story. Maybe Fred just forgot about it, or maybe Archie wasn’t paying close enough attention. It doesn’t matter now; there are only outside perspectives to tell the story. He picks up the ball, turning it over in his hands until he finds his dad’s name, right under FP’s. His rubs his thumb over it, holding it gingerly.

Archie has to clear his throat before he asks, “Why are you telling me all of this?”

“Because this game was two weeks after Artie died,” FP says, looking right at Archie. “This was one of the hardest times of your Dad’s life, I’m sure of it. That day, by all means, should have been horrible for him, but something good still came out of it. I know you’re probably feeling like hell right now, Archie, but the good days are going to come back. I can promise you that much. It might take a minute, but it’s not going to feel like this forever.” 

Archie can’t bring himself to say anything right away because that tight feeling in his throat is back. If he’s lucky, he’s got two, maybe three minutes before the flood gates break and everything comes pouring out. They can’t keep sitting out here; the guests are going to be wondering where Archie is.

“Thanks, for the story, Mr. Jones,” he says, trying to keep his tone level.

FP winds his arm around Archie’s shoulder, giving him a short squeeze. “Anytime, kid. If you need anything, and I mean anything-.”

“I know,” Archie interrupts. “I’ll call, I promise.”

_I wish I had called my dad more. Maybe I could’ve kept this from happening somehow._

Finally, the two of them get up from the stoop and move to go back inside. Archie tucks the ball and mitt back into the box; he’s not sure what he wants to do with it just yet. He sets the box down on the side table near the door, having followed FP. He’s got his hand on the door when Archie stops him.

“Mr. Jones, wait- um,” Archie falters with his words again. FP turns to face him and Archie sticks his hand out, trying to make up for earlier. “Thank you, for coming by.”

FP takes his hand, shaking it firmly. “Of course, Archie. C’mere.”

Archie doesn’t even try to stop it as FP pulls him in for a hug; lord knows that both of them need it. One of Archie’s arms finds FP’s waist and his other hand grips FP’s forearm; the tight feeling in his throat has returned with a vengeance and he can already feel tears pricking at the back of his eyes. There’s no stopping this feeling now.

He doesn’t even realize that he’s tremoring until FP’s arm falls around his shoulders, holding him tighter. “It’s okay, Arch,” he whispers. “It’s alright, just let it out.”

Archie touches his forehead to FP’s shoulder, breathing out shakily as the tears spill out of his eyes and run down the side of his cheeks. FP touches the top of Archie’s head briefly before stepping back and his eyes are just as red as Archie’s. He finds Archie’s hand again, squeezing firmly. It’s as if he’s saying _I know, but we’re going to be fine._

Archie just nods at him as he leaves, wiping a hand over his face. Jughead appears behind him, slinking his arm around Archie’s shoulders.

“You alright?”

“Yeah, yeah I’m good- sorry if I was hogging your dad.”

“It’s alright. Seems like you guys had plenty to talk about.”

Archie’s eyes fall to the box on the side table, a warm feeling growing in his chest. “Yeah, we did.”

There’s another knock on the door and a second later in walks Kevin. His eyes go bright right away.

“Hey, Jughead- I didn’t know that you were gonna be here. It’s been a long time. How are things with you and Betty, still going strong?”

Archie bites back a laugh and Jughead elbows him in the ribs; obviously, Kevin missed the memo. Jughead gestures over his shoulder into the living room.

Kevin follows his finger, jaw-dropping when he sees Betty still sitting on the couch with Veronica.

“Hey, Kevin,” Betty says sweetly as she gets up. “It’s good to see you.”

Kevin sputters as he looks at her stomach, “How am I the last one to know everything?”

This time, all of them do laugh; Betty takes Kevin by the hand, tugging him towards the couch. “C’mon,” she says, “We’ve got time- let’s see if I can catch you up to speed.”

 

 

 

It’s late by the time that the last of the guests leave; it got dark hours ago, but Archie is wide awake. He’s sitting on the floor leaning against the couch in the living room and as it turns out, everyone else is awake too. Jughead and Veronica join him first and then Betty, having just been in the kitchen.

“There’s enough pasta casserole in there to last you a year, Archie,” she says, dropping a pillow onto the floor before joining them all. “I hope you still have an appetite like you did in high school.”

He manages a laugh. “I wish I did. I mostly just eat bar food. It depends on where I can get a decent gig.”

“I didn’t realize that you got back into music again; when did that happen?”

“After we all left for college… I spent so much of those last two years of high school not feeling like myself. I guess I was just trying to find that kid again and give him a chance for once. It seemed to work, for a while, at least. I’ve barely been back a week and I feel like I’m losing him already.” 

“You got him back once, Archie, you can do it again.” Veronica chimes in. “Someone like you is pretty impossible to forget.”

He shrugs and then mutters “There’s some shit I wish I could forget.”

No one has to ask to know what he’s talking about; it’s been at the forefront of their minds this week. Although it's been looming over all of them for years, it feels far more present lately- like they’re all just waiting around for the other shoe to drop. For someone to scream in their faces and say _I KNOW WHAT YOU DID AND YOU CAN’T ESCAPE IT ANYMORE_.

“I can’t believe it’ll be eight years tomorrow,” Betty says, an ounce of disbelief in her voice. “I swear it feels like yesterday since we-.”

Archie doesn’t want to think about it or even hear it so he blurts out, “I’m gonna sell the house.”

Everyone looks at him like he’s just grown a second head. All of them react at the same time with variating levels of surprise. 

 Veronica shrieks, “What!?”

Jughead gives him an unreadable expression, “ _Archie_.”

Betty asks, “Why would you do that?”

Archie meets Betty’s eye first, caught off guard by her response. “Why wouldn’t I do that, Betty? I don’t live here anymore, it’s not like this place is of any use to me. There’s no point in holding onto it.”

“But it’s your home.”

“No, _Seattle_ is my home, just like Vermont is your home. I don’t live here anymore, none of us do. What, do you really think any of us are going to come back here again after this week is over? I don’t want to be tied to this place. There’s nothing here for me anymore.”

“Okay, but-.”

Irritated, Archie snaps, “Betty, I don’t want to talk about this anymore so can you please just let it go?”

Betty stops herself and swallows whatever she was going to say next, looking away from Archie and tucking a strand of hair behind her ear; she’s trying to hide the upset, guilty look on her face.

The feeling in the room has gone tense and Archie hates to think that he’s the cause of it. He sighs and says, “I’m sorry that I yelled, Betty. I know that you’re just trying to help, but I’d rather not talk about this right now.”

“Okay,” she says quietly, not meeting his eye.

“We’ve all had a long day,” Jughead says to no one in particular. “Maybe we should just call it a night; we’ve got another early morning tomorrow.”

All of them start to get up, but Archie doesn’t move. Veronica offers both of her hands to Betty, helping her stand up; the two of them stay hand in hand as they retreat to their respective rooms for the night. Jughead hovers in front of Archie, waiting until he’s sure that the girls are gone before speaking.

“She was just trying to help, Arch,” he says.

“So, what, you’re defending her now?”

“ _No_ , I’m not-,” Jughead sighs, frustrated. “I’m not picking a side- and I’m not trying to make you feel bad either, but you’re smarter than this.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“It _means_ you know how to pick your battles. You wouldn’t jump the gun on something like this- that’s not who you are.”

Archie grumbles, “It’s been a long time since we were around each other, things have changed, Jughead.”

“Yeah, maybe. But I’ve known you twice as long as the time I spent away from you. You’re still Archie; still the same Archie that considers all of his options ten times over before deciding on anything.”

“And your point is?”

“I’m saying you should take your time. You don’t have to decide what to do with the house right now, or even by the end of the week. This isn’t something that you can just put behind you and forget about.”

Archie almost says _we put this town behind us didn’t we_ , then decides against it. Instead, he goes with, “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do with all of this. I didn’t plan on any of this.”

“None of us did,” Jughead reminds him. “But that doesn’t mean we get to act like it’s not there. So just- do yourself a favor and take your time with this, alright?”

Though he’s not sure that he agrees with Jughead, Archie nods; more than anything he just wants this conversation to end. Jughead squeezes his shoulder once before leaving the room and Archie lets his head fall back against the couch. He stares up at the ceiling, feeling wide awake still.

The idea of staying in Riverdale any longer than he has to terrifies Archie; it sounds like a trap in more ways than one. Hiding out in this house isn’t going to cure his fear, just heighten it, if anything. There’s no getting away from this secret looming over his head. At this point, his only real options are come clean or keep hiding. Deciding which one is going to hurt him less might just be worse than the aftermath in itself.

Slowly, Archie pushes himself up onto the couch, lying flat on his back. He starts to wonder what his dad would do in a situation like this, wonders whether or not he would run or if he would stay and face what comes next. Of course, the one person that he wishes he could talk to about all this isn’t here to help him with it.

“Could really use your help right now, Dad,” he says up to the sky. “Because I don’t have a damn clue how I’m supposed to fix all of this.” Archie rolls over, hoping that if he falls asleep he’ll wake up with the answer to all his problems.

If only life could be that easy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope this monstrosity of a chapter makes up for the (small) wait for the next chapter. See you (most likely) in July!


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Archie and your dad seemed to have a good talk yesterday,” she says. “Did he say anything about it?”
> 
> Jughead shakes his head. “Not really, but I didn’t press him much for details either. He’ll tell us on his own time if he wants to.”
> 
> Betty hums to herself, staring down at her mug. She’s biting at her bottom lip like she always does when there is something on her mind and Jughead recognizes the tell right away.
> 
> Without an ounce of subtly, he says, “What’s on your mind, Betty?”
> 
> She looks up at him again. For a second it seems like she’s going to try and deny it, then Jughead gives her an _I know you inside and out, you can tell me what’s bothering you_ kind of look, and she folds. She drops her voice and says, “Am I wrong? For wanting to talk about what we did that night?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little bit domestic fluff. A lot bit sad. And a bit of a shock (or two). There's a little nod to a deleted scene from season two, as well. Hope the wait wasn't too unbearable.

Though the funeral services don’t start until ten, Jughead finds himself wide awake at seven thirty. Archie is still asleep on the couch when he comes into the living room so he walks quietly over to the love seat and settles in with his manuscript on his lap; he has edits to make before the end of the month and he hasn’t even started yet. It isn’t the story that he thought he’d ever write, but so far it’s taking him places.

Betty comes downstairs a little bit later with her arms stretched over her head. Through a yawn, she says, “Good morning.”

“Hey- good morning,” Jughead says, setting his manuscript aside. He meanders towards the kitchen, stopping in the doorway when his heart starts to sink into his stomach.

He’s watching Betty as she fixes tea for herself. Her hair is tied up in a messy bun and she’s in an oversized white t-shirt, but it’s no match for her baby bump. Her belly is still poking out of the bottom, riding up even further when she raises her arms to pull a mug out of the cupboard.

Jughead feels himself start to get mad; he's wishing that he could still have this kind of life with her. Waking up together, having a baby- being in love again. She looks over at him and Jughead wipes the disappointed look off his face before she can notice it.

“I didn’t realize I how much I would miss coffee,” she says, adding some honey to her tea. “I swear, that stuff really is a drug.”

“No decaf?”

Betty shakes her head, “If it’s not going to keep me awake then it’s not even worth it.”

Jughead musters up a laugh and Betty giggles along with him; they both sit down around the kitchen island. “Archie and your dad seemed to have a good talk yesterday,” she says. “Did he say anything about it?”

Jughead shakes his head. “Not really, but I didn’t press him much for details either. He’ll tell us on his own time if he wants to.”

Betty hums to herself, staring down at her mug. She’s biting at her bottom lip like she always does when there is something on her mind and Jughead recognizes the tell right away.

Without an ounce of subtly, he says, “What’s on your mind, Betty?”

She looks up at him again. For a second it seems like she’s going to try and deny it, then Jughead gives her an _I know you inside and out, you can tell me what’s bothering you_ kind of look, and she folds. She drops her voice and says, “Am I wrong? For wanting to talk about what we did that night?”

Jughead shakes his head, saying, “No. I wish we could talk about it, too… but it’s just not safe. Not while we’re all in town, anyway.”

Betty nods like that’s what she expected he would say; Jughead feels guilty for not giving her the answer that she wanted. On a whim, he thinks of something else. “Listen, um- I’m actually going to be in Vermont next month for a work thing, maybe if you’re free we could get together and talk about things. If you still want to.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea? Us being seen together?” She offers.

He shrugs, thinking of what he said to Veronica a few days ago. “There’s no risk if no one knows where we came from, right?”

This pulls a smile out of Betty. “Yeah, I guess that makes sense.”

Some rustling comes from the other room. A minute later, Archie walks into the kitchen, still rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He looks like he’s barely slept at all, but Betty and Jughead don’t say anything about it.

“Hey, Arch.”

 “Hey,” he responds, voice raspy. “Was my bed okay, Betty?”

“Oh, yeah it was fine. It’s hard to get comfy when you’re this pregnant though.”

Betty and Archie both laugh a little, but Jughead gets that sinking feeling in his stomach all over again. He shouldn’t be jealous about this, he knows that; they both agreed to break up, that it would be better for them. But damn if he’s not regretting it right now.

Before either one of them can comment on his silence Jughead gets up from his stool. He heads towards the basement, telling himself that he needs to get dressed anyway. They’re all going to have to leave within an hour if they want to get to the funeral home on time. Jughead doesn’t know what the rest of the day is going to look like, but he’s really hoping that it doesn’t hurt as much as he thinks it will.

 

 

 

Archie is in his suit, pacing around the lobby of the funeral home. Mary couldn’t get into town until this morning- caught up with a case in Chicago- and now he’s just waiting for her car to show up. The services start in half an hour and every bone in his body wants nothing more than to bolt out of here.

_I’m not ready. I don’t think I’m ever going to be ready._

A black car pulls up outside of the building and Archie feels his chest go tight when he sees his mom get out of the back seat. Seeing her has only made this all the more real for him and he hates it. Archie tries to get out to Chicago when he can, but it’s still been a while since he saw his mom; a year- maybe two, now.

Her hair is longer now, brushes just past her shoulders. She’s got a grey shawl wrapped around her shoulders that matches her dress; she’s got this sad look in her eye that Archie knows all too well. He’s been seeing it every time that he dared look in a mirror this week.

Mary comes inside the glass doors and Archie has to clear his voice before speaking.

“H-Hey, Mom.” It still doesn’t come out right.

“Hi, sweetheart,” she says, pulling him into her embrace. Her arms come around his shoulders and Archie is grateful for the grounding feeling. She steps back after a moment, meeting him with watery eyes. “You know, I really thought it would be quite some time before I had to do anything like this. Especially for your dad.”

Archie nods, swallowing the lump in his throat when Mary touches his face.

“Archie, I’m so sorry I couldn’t get out here earlier; the thought of you doing all of this alone-.”

“I didn’t,” he interrupts. “I wasn’t alone, I had help. Veronica, Jughead and Betty, they all came to help.”

Mary’s eyes go bright. “That might just be the best thing I heard all week. Those guys really were the best friends that you ever had.”

Yeah, he thinks, tell me about it.

“For a minute there I was starting to think that I wouldn’t see you with those guys again after that big fight you all got into senior year.”

“Right, yeah- the fight. Honestly, I forgot all about it.” It's not a complete lie. There was a fight between the four of them, but that was after everything bad happened- that wasn’t the straw that broke their backs, it had already been destroyed. That’s what Archie had told his mom when she asked why none of them had come to his graduation party.

Mary reaches down to squeeze one of his hands and sighs; she asks, “Are you gonna be okay?”

Archie shrugs and says honestly, “I don’t know, but I guess we’re going to find out.”

 

 

 

Jughead, FP, and a few other of Fred’s old friends had offered to be pallbearers; Archie thought about doing it, but he wasn’t sure he’d be able to get through it. There’s instrumental, unrecognizable music playing as Archie and Mary walk to their seats in the front row. He’s wishing now that he had asked to have Bruce Springsteen playing as his dad was brought in; Fred would’ve gotten a kick out of it.

There are twice as many people in the funeral home parlor as there was in the house yesterday for the wake and Archie didn’t even think that was physically possible. He recognizes some faces from yesterday, most of the neighborhood is here- but still, there are people here that Archie doesn’t believe he ever met before. How could Fred possibly know all these people? How could one man have touched so many lives?

The pastor only talks for a few minutes; he talks about Fred’s life in Riverdale, his business, the family he started and then mentions that Archie and Mary are going to speak before opening the mic up to the crowd, to anyone who wants to share a story about Fred. Mary squeezes Archie’s hand before going up to the podium to speak; Archie feels another land on the groove between his neck and his shoulder, a needed touch.

In a low voice, Jughead asks, “Do you know what you’re going to say when you go up?”  

Archie nods, “I think so. I made some notes last night when I couldn’t sleep, but I don’t know if they’re any good.”  

“This is your dad we’re talking about here,” he says, “It can’t possibly be bad.”

Archie nods again and Jughead grasps both of his shoulders once more before Archie draws his attention up to his mom.

Mary has balled-up tissue in her hand, much like everyone else in the room; her eyes scan the crowd.  

“I was going to talk about how kind Fred is,” she says. “But I’m sure all of you already knew that. It’s no surprise that he has a heart the size of a mountain.”

A few people hum in agreement and Mary continues.

“I’ve known… knew Fred Andrews a long time, since middle school if memory serves me right- but we fell in love in high school. He snuck up on me when I least expected it and made my whole world spin. Before I knew what hit me were getting married and starting a family.”

She glances at Archie for the last part; he can see her eyes glistening.

“And yes, we had our ups and downs, just like every couple does- but Fred Andrews was the greatest and best love of my life. At the end of the day, that’s the one thing I’m still sure of. I remember on our first date, I asked him what he wanted out of life, and Fred said that he wanted a family, said that if he couldn’t have that then he just wanted to help people. I think that bled through in everything he did- with everyone he interacted with. Fred left his mark on the world, and it’s such a tragedy to think that I won’t get to see the shining light in his eyes anymore.”

 “But if I’m right- and I think I am on this one- then I’ll see that light again. Maybe not soon, and maybe not from Fred, but from everyone that he ever came into contact with. He shared his light and love for life with everyone; it was the best thing about him. No questions asked.”  

No one claps as Mary steps back from the podium, no surprise there- there’s little joy to be had in attending a funeral, let alone speaking at one. She meets Archie’s eye as she comes back to her seat, sending him a _you’ve got this_ kind of look, one that he’s seen a thousand times over from his dad. He really did rub off on everyone he met.

Archie wipes his clammy hands on his dress pants as he stands up. He can feel all eyes on him as he walks up to the podium; his breath begins to quicken. He feels like the smallest man alive looking out at the crowd with all of them waiting for him to say something.

_Say something. Look at your cards, you moron, you brought them for a reason._

He fumbles to pull his notecards out of his breast pocket; Archie’s hands tremor in front of him when he rests his hands on the podium. That tight feeling in his throat is back again- of course, this would happen right now. He tries to compose himself, breathing deeply for a second before starting.

“Much like my mom just mentioned, my Dad was incredibly kind,” Archie starts. “I can’t think of a single time where he knew that someone else needed help and he didn’t offer it. Hell, he once let my best friend move into our house when he was having a rough time with his own family.”

Archie looks up at Jughead for only a second, earning a fond, teary-eyed smile from him. He can feel his own eyes welling up and _prays_ that he can keep his composure until he’s made it back to his seat.

His vision is blurred when he looks down at his cards- he can’t find what his next point was. He tries blinking them away, but instead they soak into the sleeves of his suit jacket.

“My dad uh… my dad was the b-best guy that I knew and-.”

Archie’s voice catches in his throat, halting his own words. As much as he tries to, he can’t get it to go away. He spares a glance towards his friends, giving an almost imperceptible shake of his head before looking down at his cards.

_I can’t do this,_ Archie thinks to himself. _I don’t know how to do this without my dad- nothing makes sense anymore and now I can’t even read my own damn notes._

He hears the sound of footsteps coming towards him from his right, but he can’t bring himself to look up yet. A small, well-manicured hand fits itself inside of one of Archie’s own; he looks over and finds Veronica standing next to him, level headed as ever. Her piercing eyes make it hard to focus on much else. 

She says, “We’ve got you, alright? A hundred percent of the way- even with this.”

The _we_ catches him off guard for a second. Archie looks back towards the crowd, eyes searching for Betty and Jughead, but they’re already coming towards him. He feels his eyes welling up again but this time out of joy opposed to grief.    

Betty comes to stand at this other side and links her arm through Archie’s own; Jughead stands behind Archie, hands resting on his shoulders just like before. Archie squeezes Veronica’s hand once, breathing deeply before he starts again.

“As I was saying, my dad is the best guy that I know. He would always show up exactly when you needed him to, and even in the moments when you didn’t even realize that you needed the help. It’s like he had a sixth sense for knowing when someone else was in trouble.”

A few people laugh at this, and Archie musters up smile; he continues, “I remember once, shortly after he had been shot, he was trying to convince me to go spend time with my friends and get out of the house, but I was still too afraid to leave him alone for too long. He looked right at me and said, _you can’t let this fear run your life, Arch_ \- it was exactly what I needed to hear, even if I hadn’t realized it then.

“If I’m being entirely honest- the idea of living the rest of my life without my dad terrifies me, scares me more than I’d like to admit; I know that I’m going to miss him for the rest of my life. But my dad also taught a little something about friends. He told me that if you pick the right ones and keep them in your corner, then nothing is ever going to feel as bad as it first seems. If he’s right- and he usually is… then as much as this hurts right now, it’s not as bad as it seems. And, for what it’s worth, I’ve got a pretty good feeling that my dad is watching out for the whole town right now, making sure that there’s not too much trouble coming our way.”

Archie takes a step back as he finishes, meeting the eyes of all his friends in a silent thank you.

Mary takes Archie's hand as he sits down again, eyes beaming with tears and pride; he breathes a sigh of relief that he doesn't have to speak anymore. Veronica stays next to him, still holding his hand. 

It's time for the audience to come up and speak if they want to. The first person up to the podium is an older, balding man in a wheelchair; he removes the mic from the stand, holding in his hand so that he’s not blocked by the podium.

Archie thinks he might recognize him from somewhere. This guy didn't come to the wake yesterday, but obviously, he still knows Fred somehow. 

"Hello," the man starts, "For those of you who don't know me, my name is Reed Wilson, and Fred Andrews was a friend of mine." 

_Wilson_. Archie's heard that name somewhere before, but he can't remember where.

"I worked on Fred's construction crew for a long time; I'd gotten myself into a bit of trouble and without even thinking twice about it he gave me a job when I was sure everyone else had given up on me. He gave me a break right when I needed it."

Veronica leans over whispering, "Does that name sound familiar to you, too?" 

Archie nods, trying to listen to what the man in front of him is saying.

“A while back- eight years ago today actually, I was in a hit and run car accident that left me paralyzed from the waist down.”

Archie feels his blood run cold, all of the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.  

“I don’t remember much of it, to be honest with all of you- but clear as day, I can remember Fred Andrews walking into the hospital room not two days after my accident, asking how I was doing like it was the most normal thing in the world. After that, once a week for the next nearly eight years, Fred would come over with dinner- usually takeout, in his defense- and sit and talk with me. Like nothing changed.”  

Reed keeps going and Archie feels like he’s going to vibrate out of his skin; Veronica’s hand squeezes his anxiously and he squeezes right back. He glances over at her and finds her eyes as wide as plates.  

“Fred joked more than once about catching the bastards who left me this way, said that they couldn’t be too hard to track down such a small town, but I always told him not to worry about it. Said that the truth would reach the light of day one way or another, but Fred still offered anyway. I never thanked him for that, for offering help when I needed it most. I just hope that wherever he is now, that he knows how grateful I am for everything that he’d done.”  

Reed sets the mic back in place, then wheels away from the podium and back towards his seat; Archie can’t even focus as the next person comes up to speak because his head won’t stop _buzzing-_

He nearly lurches out of his seat when a hand settles on the back of his neck. Looking over his shoulder, both Betty and Jughead are making startled, equally terrified faces at him.

“Arch,” Jughead mutters, “That accident, it- it was-.”

“I know,” he interrupts. “We’ll talk about it later.”

Betty tries, “But Archie that was-.”

“Shut up, _I know_ … we’ll figure this out back at the house, alright? We don’t know what we don’t know.”

Jughead and Betty both sit back in their seats again and Archie turns back around finally, all of them still panicked as all hell.

The rest of the service and the luncheon seem to go on for forever. People keep coming up to Archie, trying to give their condolences and it’s taking everything in him not to completely freak out. He keeps looking over his shoulder, halfway expecting for someone to come up and start accusing him everything that happened that night. Archie steers clear of his friends the entire time and the rest of them do the same because they’re all so freaked out; it’s like that morning after all over again, but worse, somehow.

It's another three hours before everything is packed up and the four of them are able to go back to the house. Archie locks the front door behind him once all of them are inside; Jughead rushes to the back door making sure that it’s locked as well. All of them meet up in the living room, still looking like they’re all about to meet their doom.

Veronica speaks up first as she paces the floor, stating, “We can’t be sure. We don’t know for sure that his accident has anything to do with us.”

“It was the same exact day, Veronica,” Archie says, yanking off his tie. “How the hell could it not be us?”

Betty chimes in, “Archie’s right, V. All of this is too on the nose to not line up with what we did.”

“People get into car accidents every day- there’s no guarantee that-.”

“Really? So every day there’s a hit and run accident in the middle of the woods after _midnight_?” Jughead injects, nose buried in his phone; he looks up at all of them, turning the phone around to show the news report. “It’s all right here, everything is exactly the same.”

Betty breathes out shakily, a hand bracing the bottom of her stomach as she sits down; Jughead pockets his phone, running a hand through his ragged hair.

“This is ridiculous,” Veronica says, “We’re all freaking out over nothing- Wilson even said that he barely remembers anything about that night, he still doesn’t know who caused the accident.”

Jughead rolls his eyes, “You’re missing the point; he _said_ something. Half the town knows about the accident now, people are going to get suspicious. People are going to start looking at me! At _us!”_

“No one else _knows_ that we were there! We can’t get caught if no one knows.”

“You guys, stop, can we please just-,” Betty cuts herself off, gasping lightly and looking down at her stomach. “Whoa.”

The whole room goes still and all of them turn to look at her; cautiously Archie asks, “Betty? Betty, what is it?”

With a stunned face, she looks up at all of them and says, “I think my water just broke.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't wait for y'all to yell at me for this.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “What’s that, Jughead?”
> 
> He looks up, gesturing aimlessly. “Oh, it’s- it’s my manuscript.”
> 
> Betty smiles, “Oh my god- I can’t believe I forgot about your novel, let me see it- I never got to see how you ended it.” She leans over to take it from him and Jugheads mouth opens in protest, sighing when he can’t stop her in time. Betty flips through a few pages and her head tilts in confusion.
> 
> “Wait, this isn’t your Jason Blossom story-,” she flips back to the first few pages, skimming over the prologue. Her eyes go from confused to something akin to disbelief or fear. “Did you…. did you write about what we did that night in the woods?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This disgustingly long chapter has a blink and you'll miss it Girl Meets World reference so if you find it let me know what you think of it.

_March 18 th, 2:08pm. _

No one says anything at first. Archie, Veronica, and Jughead are all so stunned by the bluntness of Betty’s statement that they hardly believe it.”

“I’m sorry,” Veronica says, still floored. “You think _what_?”

“I- I think my water just broke, for real.”

Veronica glances over at Archie and Jughead who look equally as caught off guard as she does; she shakes her head, closes her eyes tightly. “This doesn’t make any sense- you haven’t had any contractions or anything, right?”

Betty makes a guilty face, biting at her bottom lip. “I’ve had a couple.”

_“Betty?!”_

“For how long?” Jughead asks.

“I don’t know, an hour, maybe a bit longer,” she replies and all of them groan again. “Don’t get upset with me, I thought it was nothing! It’s too early, I thought that it was just Braxton Hicks or something- shit, _ow_.”

Betty winces, her face tightening in pain and holding her stomach again; Archie, Veronica, and Jughead step slightly closer to her, all of them looking worried. A minute later the contraction passes and when Betty sighs so does everyone else. The relief only lasts a second before Betty’s eyes go wide.

“This is insane. I can’t do this,” she says.

“B, you’re in _labor_. We have to go take care of this; we have to go to the hospital.”

“ _No_. I-I can’t go into labor yet. I need six more weeks, not _hours_. I can’t- I don’t have my things, I’m not ready.”

Jughead takes a step forward, kneeling by Betty’s side and curling his hand around hers.

“Betty, listen to me, alright? I know you’re terrified, but we have to go. None of us know what to do about any of this and if something goes wrong we can’t help you here- but we _can_ call your midwife on the way to Riverdale General and see if she can catch the next train out of town-.”

“But _Jughead_ -.”

“Please, Betty,” he says, his eyes doing most of the begging, “Please say you’ll go, just so we can make sure that this isn’t a false alarm or something.”

 Betty looks away from him, sparing a glance at Archie and Veronica who give her the same wary look. After a beat she nods, saying, “Okay… just to be safe.”

Jughead sighs along with Archie and Veronica, and then a split-second later he turns into leader mode. “Alright, time is of the essence so Veronica, go upstairs and pack up Betty’s things, anything you think she might need. Archie go start the car and try to find the quickest route to the hospital from here. I’m going to call ahead and let them know we’re coming. We’ll leave in ten, alright?”

Archie and Veronica both nod and then break away to do what they’ve been asked; Jughead moves to get up from his kneeling position, but then stops when Betty tightens her grip on his hand.

“Jug,” she says quietly, her bright green eyes meeting his, “If I didn’t already say this- I’m really glad that you’re here.”

Jughead smiles a little then nods, “Thanks, I… I’m glad I’m here, too.”

 

 

 

_2:29 pm_

At the hospital, a nurse brings Betty a wheelchair as soon as she walks into the labor and delivery unit. Her friends follow behind her, trying to ignore how daunting it is to be following one of their oldest friends through hallways of a hospital.

In their rush, none of them even thought to change out of their funeral attire.

It’s quickly confirmed that Betty’s labor has already progressed to being four centimeters dilated which means like it or not- she’s here to _stay_. The stiff, white and blue spotted hospital gown makes Betty look like she’s swimming in it since it’s twice the size that she needs, but it’ll have to do for now.

Dr. Farley, the on-call obstetrician at Riverdale General greets all of them shortly after Betty has been settled into a room. Her salt and pepper colored hair is pulled back into a tight bun at the top of her head and her smile is wide and toothy.

“I take it that you must be Elizabeth,” she says.

“Yes- well, Betty, actually.”

“Betty it is then. I understand that the circumstances for this labor aren’t exactly what you had planned, yes?”

Betty nods, “I live out of state and I’m not due for another six weeks so yeah, not what I had planned at all.” 

Dr. Farley laughs a little like it’s something she hears all the time. “Not to worry, I’ve given the nurses a staff a heads up about your situation so everyone is prepared. In the meantime, is there anything else we can do to put you at ease? Maybe someone that we can call?”

“Oh, yeah, my midwife actually. She has- _oh_ , hold on,” Betty pauses, the current contraction making it hard to talk; she picks up again when it passes. “My midwife, she has all of my information as far as my pregnancy- V, her number is in my wallet, can you get it for me?”

Veronica digs through the bag once, then twice, then says, “I’m not seeing it, Betty.”

Betty’s shoulder’s go stiff. She tries to keep her voice calm, “Well did you pack it?”

“I think so- where was it?”

“On the side table, right inside the front door.”

Veronica looks up like she’s searching the inside of her brain for the right answer. After a beat, she pulls a sour face and says, “In that case, then I think it’s still sitting on the table next to the door.”

Betty’s jaw drops. “Veronica!”

“I’m sorry, Betty- we were all in a rush, it was an accident!”

“It’s okay,” Archie interjects. “Ronnie and I can go back to the house and get it. We’ll be back in twenty minutes tops. Alright?”

Betty nods anxiously, breathing out heavily; Archie pulls his keys out of his pocket then lays a gentle hand on Veronica’s shoulder, moving towards the door. Both of them are gone in a second.

Betty looks back to Dr. Farley who asks her, “So, as far as pain medications-.”

“Yes, I want the epidural,” Betty responds, almost too quick; Dr. Farley laughs again.

“Sounds good. I’ll be back a little bit later to get you set up. Until then- take some laps around the hallway if you feel up to it, but for the most part, just try to take it easy, got it?”

“Got it, nothing too strenuous. Thanks.”

Dr. Farley walks away and Betty sits back, trying to relax into her hospital bed. She looks over at Jughead seated next to her; her curiosity gets the best of her when he pulls a thick stack of papers out of his messenger bag.

“What’s that, Jughead?”

He looks up, gesturing aimlessly. “Oh, it’s- it’s my manuscript.”

Betty smiles, “Oh my god- I can’t believe I forgot about your novel, let me see it- I never got to see how you ended it.” She leans over to take it from him and Jugheads mouth opens in protest, sighing when he can’t stop her in time. Betty flips through a few pages and her head tilts in confusion.

“Wait, this isn’t your Jason Blossom story-,” she flips back to the first few pages, skimming over the prologue. Her eyes go from confused to something akin to disbelief or fear. “Did you…. did you write about what we did that night in the woods?”

Jughead shrugs, looking down at his hands. “I thought that if I fictionalized parts of it- changed up the ending then maybe it wouldn’t hurt so much. Or that I wouldn’t feel so guilty about all of it… I don’t know if it helped, but my editor thinks that it’s a work of magic. Won't stop asking me how I came up with something so ridiculous but still so believable.”

Betty lets out a burst of laughter and it’s a watery sound. She pulls her fingers from the pages and hands the stack back to Jughead, “Tell me about it.”

He furrows his eyebrows, “But you already know how it goes, you were there.”

She shakes her head, “No. I want to hear your story… give me the ending that doesn’t hurt so much.”

Jughead smiles smugly to himself. “It’s kind of a long story.”

“That’s fine,” Betty says, holding her arms out. “I’m gonna be here a while.”

“Alright, well… the story starts in Palisades…”

 

 

 

_2:41 pm_

Archie parks messily as he pulls up to the house, not caring because they’re only going to be there for a minute. Veronica hops out of the car, pulling her phone out of her dress pocket when it pings with a text message. She pauses in front of the porch steps to read it, then says, “It’s Betty- she wants me to grab her book of baby names for her, it’s in your room somewhere. I’ll go run up and get it.”

“Alright, well just-,” Archie starts, then stops when Veronica rushes past him in the doorway and then up the stairs, already far away from him. “Don’t take too long, I guess.”

Archie shuts the door behind him and then groans as he turns around, his knee knocking into the leg of the side table, making it rattle. Betty’s clutch that had been resting on the edge of the table falls to the floor, some of its contents spilling out across the hardwood.

Archie sighs, “Great,” bending over to pick them up. There’s Betty’s ID, a tube of vanilla Chapstick and a worn at the edges, wallet-sized photo. Archie picks it up, eyes falling to the description on the back; it’s in Alice’s handwriting.   

_Sleepy girls. Polly, 5. Elizabeth, 3._

He flips it over and is met by the sight of Betty and Polly, smaller than Archie’s ever seen them, sharing a bed. Polly is curled on her side with all of the sheets tucked around her and Betty is to her left, lying on her back looking like a little starfish. As cute as it is, Archie feels like he stumbled upon something that he wasn’t meant to see, something that wasn’t for him. At the same time, he’s curious about why Betty has this in her wallet; she hasn’t mentioned Polly or Alice at all. He wonders if maybe she’s been talking to them again.

Archie looks up when he hears Veronica making her way downstairs and quickly pockets the photo; he can ask Betty about it later, hopefully without an audience. He meets Veronica’s eye, asking, “You got the book?”

“Got it,” she says, showing it to him. “And the wallet?”

Archie holds it up, already reaching for the door. “C’mon, we should get back to the-,” he stops when Veronica’s hand grabs his arm, a wide-eyed, ideas brewing kind of look on her face. “Ronnie? What is it?”

Veronica looks up at him, a smile forming. “I think there’s one more place we need to stop before we go back to the hospital.”  

 

 

 

_4:16 pm, five centimeters._

“It’s an interesting choice story-wise,” Betty says, “but I didn’t have you pegged for the happy ending type.”

“I know, I surprised myself with that one, too. I thought about changing it, but my editor is insisting that I keep it.”

“I think it’s a good fit. I don’t know that I understand the pen name though- Fort Jones?”

“Yeah. What’s wrong with it?”

“Nothing, it just- it sounds like- _hmn_ ,” she pauses, trying to breathe through the contraction. “It sounds like an army base out in Centerville. How’d you come up with it?”

“My sister; before we were Jellybean and Jughead, she couldn’t say Forsythe correctly, always came out sounding like fort sits. After a while, it got shortened to just Fort, but she doesn’t really call me that anymore- I never told you that?”

Betty shakes her head.

“Damn. I thought we had told each other everything.”

“It felt like we did, back then, anyway. I guess eight years is a lot longer than I realized.”

“I know what you mean. It feels like a lifetime ago that we were all-.”

There’s a knock on the door and a second later Veronica and Archie come in, two gift bags in their hands.

“Hey, where have you guys been,” Betty asks. “I thought you would’ve been back an hour ago.”

Veronica gives a knowing smile. “We decided to make a detour.”

“By we, she means it was mostly Veronica,” Archie says, earning a smack on the arm.

“Since you were worried about not having any of your things- and since I never got to throw you a proper baby shower- I thought we could try and put you at ease.” Veronica reaches into of the gift bags and pulls out a baby’s onesie, white with a small yellow duck in the center. “It’s just a few things to start, that way you can still pick out stuff that you like.”

“And we picked out a car seat too,” Archie mentions. “Got it set up and everything.”

Betty’s eyes go heartfelt, tearing up a little. “Aw, you guys.”

“Don’t you start crying, Betty Cooper, because if you get going then I’m doomed and I didn’t bring my mascara.”

She fans at her face with her hands. “I won’t, I won’t- I’m just really glad that you guys are all here; I can’t imagine doing this with anyone else.”

“Not even Cheryl?” Jughead jokes.

“Oh, _my God_. I forgot to call Cheryl.” 

The room dissolves into laughs for a minute before easing back into smiles; Jughead stretches as he stands, saying, “I don’t know about you guys, but I need coffee and a snack.”

“Me too,” Veronica agrees, then looks between Betty and Archie. “Will you guys be alright alone for a few minutes?”

Archie and Betty both nod, watching as Veronica and Jughead excuse themselves. Archie pulls up a chair near the end of the bed, crossing his hands in his laps; his shoulders go stiff when Betty makes a noise of discomfort. “Contraction?” he asks.

Betty nods; she tries her hardest to breathe through the pain, letting out a shaky sigh once it passes and swipes a hand over her forehead.

“That’s really taking a lot out of you, huh?” 

She nods again, still catching her breath. “This would be a lot easier if my midwife was here- but even if she got on the next train out of Vermont she wouldn’t get here in time. I told her to just stay home, it wasn’t worth the trip.”

“Was it like this for Polly? When she had the twins?”

Betty shrugs, “I don’t know. I wasn’t there. She was already off with the farm and didn’t bother to call us cause she didn’t want us involved… can’t say that I blame her.”

Archie then remembers what he’d found earlier. He reaches into his pocket, pulling out the old photo. “I swear I wasn’t trying to snoop, but this fell out of your wallet earlier when we went back to the house.”

Betty takes it from him, only slightly surprised to see the picture. “I always forget that it’s in there until I find it again. Most of the time I don’t even like to look at it.”

“Then why keep it?”

“Cause my dad-,” Betty pauses, trying to get rid of the tight feeling in her throat. “My dad carried it around in his wallet for years, even throughout all of the messed-up shit that he did. It was still in there, after he… you know. For a while I kept it as proof that he still had some humanity left in him; I mean why else would my dad have kept it? But now… it just reminds me of everything I’ve lost.”

“Have you talked to Polly at all? Or your mom?”

She shakes her head. “No. I don’t even know where they are, I doubt they would have anything nice to say to me after all this time… your dad called me a few times though.”

Archie feels a chill run down his spine, something like anxiety or curiosity spiking in him. “He did?”

“Yeah,” she says, voice watery as she starts to cry. “The first time was a few weeks after Jughead and I had been in New York, and then around the holidays once or twice. He always said that he was checking in on me- wanted to make sure that life was treating me okay.”

He forces a smile, his vision starting to blur. Archie leans forward a bit, saying, “Well, I’m glad someone was.”

Betty bites, tears spilling out of her eyes as she looks up at Archie again. “I’m sorry that I never called to see if you were okay. I wish I had, I should’ve-.”

“Hey, no, don’t beat yourself up about this.” Archie moves to sit on the side of the bed, taking Betty’s hand in one of his own. “We all agreed not to talk; you stuck to the rule, that’s- I’m not mad at you. Not even a little bit, alright?”

“Okay,” she says with a nod, then lifts her arms for a hug. “I love you, Archie.”

“I love you, too.” He leans forward, mindful of her belly as he wraps his arms around her waist. Archie hooks his chin over her shoulder, letting a few hot tears drip out of his eyes. Neither one of them says anything for a moment, just focus on holding onto each other- giving the other one the support they need at that moment.

After a while, when she still has her arms wrapped around his neck, Betty says, “Can I be really honest with you?”

“Always.”

“I have no _goddamn_ _idea_ how I’m going to raise this baby by myself.”  

Archie barks out a laugh and Betty does the same as they pull back from each other. For one reason or another, it feels like the funniest thing that Archie’s ever heard; he can’t stop laughing for the life of him. Both of them go breathless, not even making a sound anymore as their bodies continue to shake with the force of their laughter. Archie and Betty’s once sad tears turn to ones of jubilation, their emotions have taken a complete one-eighty in the last sixty seconds.   

They’re both red in the face when Veronica and Jughead come back in; they both look at Archie and Betty like they’ve grown an extra head in the time they’ve been gone. Betty sees them first, her giggles subsiding just enough to say, “Oh, h-hey.”

“Are you guys on drugs or something?” Jughead asks. “What the hell is so funny?”

Archie and Betty look at each again, dissolving into chuckles again as they start wiping at their cheeks.

“Nothing,” Archie says. “We’re just talking about life… did the vending machine have any potato chips?”

 

 

 

_7:38 pm, eight centimeters._

After a while, Veronica squeezes herself on the bed next to Betty, saying, “I know you said you wanted to wait to name little miss, but it’s the day of, Betty. You have to have _some_ idea as to what you're going to name her. We can’t put this off forever.”

An hour later, with Archie and Jughead having excused themselves, Betty has barely made a dent in her book of baby names and Veronica has a notebook in her lap, writing names down every couple of minutes and adding some of her own ideas.

“I don’t know how anybody does this,” she says with a groan. “There are so many good names to pick from, how do you pick just one?”

“You don’t,” Veronica jokes. “It’s called you settle on one name now and use the other ones later when you have more kids.”

Betty rolls her eyes. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. I still have to have this baby first; I don’t even wanna think about having more kids yet.”

“That’s fair; I already know how many kids I want, have since I was a kid.”

“Seriously?”

Veronica nods; Betty shifts to face her more, her eyes saying _go on_.   

“I want three- maybe four kids, that way they’ll always have someone to hang out with or talk to. Being an only child wasn’t any fun for me; I used to beg my mom and dad for a little sibling, but they always said they were too busy for more kids. I want a different experience for my kids someday… all I need now is the husband and a house in upstate New York.”

“Could that husband possibly be a broad-shouldered red-head?” Betty asks mischievously.

Veronica’s cheeks go pink, looking away as she mutters, “Shut up.”

“Oh, c’mon, V. I saw the way you ran up to help him this morning at the funeral- you guys work well together, you always have. Is it completely ridiculous to think that you two could get back together again?”

Veronica looks over her shoulder at Betty, earning an eye raise. “No. It’s not ridiculous, but-.”

“But what? What’s holding you back?”

She grapples to find an answer, mouth hanging open. Veronica looks down at her hands, picking at her nail polish; she’s definitely going to need a manicure when this week is over.

“I already lost him once when shit hit the fan,” she says quietly. “Whose to say that it won’t happen again? Trouble follows all of us around like a stray dog. Losing him was hard enough the first time. I barely made it out of that without completely falling apart, I don’t- …I can’t do that again. I can’t lose Archie _again_ ; I won’t be able to handle it.”

“I don’t believe that for a second.” Betty says firmly, “Yeah, the possibility of losing him sucks, but there’s no way in hell that you would’ve shown up here this week if you weren’t _absolutely_ sure that you were able to deal with whatever came your way. Besides, you’re still Veronica Lodge; you can do anything.”

Veronica’s mouth grows into a fond smile. “Letting you get away from me for more than a minute was just about the dumbest thing I’ve ever done, you know that?”  

Betty smiles in return, leaning into Veronica. “Aw, I feel exactly the same. Now let’s hurry up and pick a name before this baby girl gets tired of inching her way out of my-.”

_“Betty!”_

 

 

 

_9:14 pm, ten centimeters._

Aside from the initial moment of _holy shit I’m going to labor_ , Betty had managed to keep a level head for the most part. It wasn’t until about half a dozen nurses and Dr. Farley had come into the room, prepping her to start _pushing_ that she started to freak out. Her hands begin to tremor where they sit at her sides, her nerves getting the better of her.

Veronica notices it immediately and takes Betty’s left hand into both of her own.

“Hey,” she says, both soft and firm. “You’ve got this, Betty. We’re going to be here the whole time. All of us.”

Jughead bends at the waist so that he’s eye level with Betty and lays his hand carefully on top of hers, saying more than words ever could with the simple action.

Betty breathes out a shaky exhale, closing her eyes for a moment before nodding to herself. “Okay,” she says quietly. “I can do this.”

Archie smiles from his spot next to Veronica, saying, “There’s the Betty that we know and love.”

Betty smiles back at him, her eyes shining with anxious- excited tears. She breathes deeply, looking down at the foot of the bed where Dr. Farley has just taken a seat between her spread knees.

“Alright, Betty,” she says sweetly, “We’re all ready when you are. You ready to meet your little baby?”

Betty meets the eye of all her friends once more before nodding. “Yeah. I’m ready- let’s get this baby girl out of there.”

There’s a small laugh and then Dr. Farley is pulling her seat closer. “Alright, on the count of three you’re going to start pushing, got it? One, two, three…”

 

 

 

_10:02 pm._

“And relax,” a random nurse says.

Betty releases her crunched up hold, panting heavily as her head falls back onto the pillow. She already feels like she’s run a marathon and she’s sweating like it too; Veronica has been dabbing at her forehead with a towel every few pushes and tucking her hair away from her face. Betty’s bun is a new level of messy- hardly a bun at this point.

“You’re doing great, Betty, seriously.”

“Thanks… V?”

“Yeah?”

“Don’t ever let me do this again.”

 

 

 

_10:36 pm._

“…eight, nine, ten, and stop pushing.”

Betty whines harshly as she stops, one part in pain and one part in frustration; the pushing hurts but the pauses between that hurt even more. She just wants to have this baby out of her already; she’s so damn tired.   

Jughead’s hand touches the top of her head, other finding the inside of her arm, stroking softly. “It’s almost over, Betty, you’re-.”

In a rush, she grunts out, “Jughead, I know you mean well but please _shut up.”_

That’s all it takes for him to bite his tongue for the foreseeable future.

 

 

 

11:54 pm.

In hindsight, Betty thought her breaking point would’ve come hours ago. Instead, it’s happening right now, mere minutes before midnight on the anniversary of the worst day in her whole damn life, having found her wit's end.

“No,” she cries, shaking her head mid push. “No more, please- _I can’t.”_

“Just a few more pushes Betty,” Dr. Farley reminds her. “You’re almost at the finish line.”

“I don’t, I don’t have it in me. I can’t do it.” A warm hand grips the bottom of her chin, tilting her head towards the right; Jughead is looking at her with a tenderness that Betty hasn’t seen in years and for a minute she forgets about everything going on around her.

“Do you remember what I said all those years ago, about you and the white noise?”

Betty nods, whispering, “Stronger.” 

“Exactly. That’s still true. Especially now.”

Her bottom lip trembles, the tears in her eyes making tracks down the side of her face again. “I don’t know how to do this, Jug- I can’t do this by myself.”

“You won’t; you’re not gonna do this by yourself,” he says, his own voice going watery. “Veronica, Archie, and me- we’re going to be there. The whole damn time, we’re going to be there for you… you’re not going to be alone again, Betty.”

“Pr-Promise?”

“I promise,” he says; like it’s the only thing he’s ever been sure of in his entire life.

Without looking away from him, she finds his other hand, squeezing it as tightly as she possibly can; she can feel the rest of her life rushing towards her, coming in hot and with a vengeance. Betty’s isn’t going to let her fear get in the way- not again, not when her daughter is counting on her most. 

Betty takes one long, firm breath, centering herself one last time. She looks back down at Dr. Farley and just nods, knowing that there are no words to correctly convey what she’s feeling right now.

“Two more pushes and you’ll have yourself a baby, so I need you to give me everything that you’ve got, Betty, okay? Alright, on three, just like before. One, two, three, _push_ …”

 

 

 

_11:58 pm._

Call it crazy, but Betty can tell the exact second that her baby girl finally makes her way into the world. Before Dr. Farley even says _Betty, look down, she’s here-_ Betty already knows. It’s this overwhelming feeling of relief. Not even a beat later she thinking to herself _thank God, the hurt is over._

She’s so wrapped up in her own adrenaline running through her veins that she completely forgets what’s going on until _her_ slime-covered, shrieking for dear life baby girl is being placed on her chest.

“Oh- _oh my God_ ,” Betty says, crying herself. She didn’t think the sound of someone else’s wailing could make her so happy; a nurse leans over her and wipes off baby girl clearing away some of the blood and other mess.

When Betty looks up finally, Veronica and Archie are still standing to the left of her hospital bed, hugging each other and crying lightly at the sight of the baby girl on Betty’s chest. She looks down to the little bundle on her chest- _her daughter;_ carefully, Betty cradles the top of her head, already unable to get enough of her.

She swivels her head towards Jughead, ready to say _isn’t she perfect_ , and Betty catches him looking right at her, crying in a way that she hasn’t seen him do in years. Droplets of water are clinging to his lashes as he leans over, kissing her on the forehead; Betty doesn’t say anything about it- or the fact that his hand is still wrapped up in hers. Instead, she presses her forehead against his, soaking up all of the gentleness that she can with a simple touch.

This is, without question, the most incredible thing she’s ever created.

 

 

 

_March 19 th, 12:13 am. _

After the cord has been cut and Betty has a minute to rest while her little girl is getting checked out, Archie and Veronica take it upon themselves to step outside the room for a minute; Jughead had opted to stay in the room with Betty- just in case, of course.

Archie slips his hand inside of Veronica’s as they walk out of the room together, like its easy- like it still _makes sense_ for them to do this. Veronica doesn’t say anything about it or the fact that they held onto each other nearly the entire time that Betty was giving birth; she’s hoping this means they’ll finally take a second to talk about things, about where the two of them stand.

“That was pretty incredible,” Archie says. “What Betty did, huh?”

“Yeah, that’s one way to put it. God, I can’t believe our friend has a _baby_.”  

“I know; I’ve been thinking about that a lot- what it’s going to be like someday when I have a kid of my own.”

This catches Veronica’s attention, making her skin prickle. “You wanna have kids?”

“Someday. When things aren’t so messy.”

She whispers, “I want that too, Archie.” Veronica is looking up at him, right in the eye- less than a foot of space between their chests.

There are a million things that she wants to say to him at this moment. _Tell me that you missed me_.  _Tell me that I wasn’t completely ridiculous for coming here- or that I’m not out of my mind for wanting to start something with you again. Do you want that? Don’t you miss the love that we used to have? I think about it every single day._ Despite wanting to, Veronica doesn’t say anything. She just keeps looking at Archie, hopefully, that can be enough to make him understand how she’s feeling. Her heart begins to pound as she leans, close enough to feel Archie’s breath against her nose, making this all the more real.

At the last second- right before he’s about to kiss her- Archie pulls away, moving his head to the side; Veronica feels all the hope that was building in her chest plummet into her stomach. Archie takes a small step back but doesn’t let go of Veronica’s hand, so that’s something. She doesn’t know what to make of this anymore.   

Before she can even try and say anything, Archie says, “It’s not that I don’t want to.”

“Really?” Veronica says, an ounce of irritation in her tone. “Because you could’ve have fooled me.” 

“C’mon, Ronnie, that’s not fair. It’s just-… this has been such a messy week for all of us. Is now really the best time to be-?”

“Just get to the point, Archie.”

He sighs, voice dropping to a whisper. “I don’t want grief to be what brings us back together… that’s not going to make this any easier for us.”

Veronica looks up at him again, already feeling herself getting lost in those brown eyes that she’s loved for years. “But you do want that, don’t you? For us to try again?”

Archie nods, “Yeah, I do. More than anything.”

Veronica lets out a breath of relief while still trying to contain her joy. She knows this isn’t a given that things are going to work out long term but damn is she excited.

“Okay. So how do you wanna do this?”

He pulls his bottom lip between his teeth, thinking carefully about the question. “I think we should take our time with this, let it play out naturally… agreed?”

Veronica nods. “So it’s like we’re playing the long game, so to speak?”

Archie grins. “Yeah,” he says with a bit of a laugh. “We’re playing the long game… is that okay?”

“Of course, it is, Archie, it’s… it’s everything.”

Both of them smirk, acting as though the tears haven’t magically made a reappearance. Archie lets go of Veronica’s hand so that he can pull her closer, both of his arms around her shoulders.

“I missed you, Veronica,” he says quietly, cheek pressed into her hair.

“I missed you, too, Archie. More than you could ever imagine.”

 

 

 

_12:20 am._

It’s been recommended by Dr. Farley that baby girl Cooper spends the night in the NICU since she came so early and Betty is more than happy to oblige. She’d be lying if she didn’t say she was worried about her daughter's early arrival.

After she’s finally eaten- a burger and fries, a meal fit for a king- Betty can feel sleep pulling at her eyelids. She’s got maybe ten more minutes of clarity until she checks out for good.

Jughead hasn’t left her side for more than a minute. He’s still got his hand wrapped up in Betty’s, leaning over the side of the bed as he talks to her.

“Do you know what you’re gonna call her?”

“I think so,” Betty mumbles. “But I’m gonna wait until tomorrow. I wanna get one more good look at her before I decide.”

“That’s probably a smart idea; not many good choices were made on little sleep and pain killers.”

“I can think of one particularly bad choice we both made without those things.”

Betty’s bloodshot, green eyes find Jughead’s and he feels his spine stiffen, already knowing what she’s getting at. “Betty, you don’t-.”

“I think about that fight all the time, and those awful things I said to you before we broke up. Sometimes I think that if I close my eyes and wish hard enough that I can go back and undo it… I wish I could.”

“I’m not mad at you for that. Breaking up was something we both agreed to… as ridiculous as it sounds, I wouldn’t change what we did. Besides, I still made my way back to you. That’s gotta count for something, right?”

“Is it going to stay that way?”

Jughead furrows his brow. “Is what going to stay that way?”   

“Havin’ you around, one way or another.”

Jughead’s heart soars- practically reaching the sky with its level of joy. He tries to keep his composure though, not wanting to overexcite Betty when she needs her rest.

“That’s all I want. You. In my life _for good_.”

Betty smiles sleepily up at him, her eyelids fluttering between long blinks; Jughead rubs his thumb over Betty’s hairline softly, watching as her whole body seems to relax into the thin mattress beneath her.

“Go to sleep, Betts,” he says, voice barely whisper. “We can figure things out when you wake up.”

Jughead rests his own head on the arm of the bed, telling himself that he’s just going to rest his eyes for a minute and falls asleep before he can stop it.

 

 

 

_10:17 am._

Betty has her little girl nestled in the crook of her arm when Veronica and Archie come in with breakfast from Pop’s and her eyes go wide with joy nearly instantly. “Please tell me you have a blueberry muffin in there with me.”

“Better yet, we have _two_ ,” Veronica says, setting one of the bags down on the rolling table next to Betty’s hospital bed.

“Oh my god, you two are my favorite people on the planet- next to her of course.”

“Did you decide on a name, Betty?” Archie asks, sitting on the couch next to Jughead.

She nods with a wide grin. “Her name is Genevieve.”

Veronica throws her hand over her chest, her eyes going bright. “Aw, Betty I love it. I can already see the announcement card; Genevieve Cooper, born March nineteenth-.”

“Eighteenth, V.”

“What?”

“She was born on the eighteenth- I missed midnight by all of two minutes.”

Veronica loses her smile. “So… so that means-.”

“Her birthday is the exact same day as the awful thing that we did senior year, only eight years apart. What are the odds right? Of all the days that I had to go into early labor, it had to be that one.”

The whole room goes silent, none of them really knowing what to say after that. The tight, stressed-out feeling that they were sharing while arguing after the funeral is back, two times as strong as before. There’s no ignoring it now. They can’t keep acting like the elephant in the room just isn’t there.

Betty breaks up the quiet, looking down at Genevieve. “I don’t want any more secrets. I’m not going to hide myself from my daughter that’s not fair… We have to talk about it. There’s no choice now. We have to come to terms with what we did that night. This can’t just stay between us anymore, someone else needs to hold us accountable-”

It’s at that exact moment, of course, that someone decides to knock on the door and let themselves in. Kevin appears from behind the curtain, with a small bouquet of pink and yellow flowers in one hand. The smile falls off of his face when he sees the fearful expressions that everyone else is making.

“I was going to say congratulations… but it looks like you all just met the crypt keeper. What’s the matter?”

“Kev, sit down,” Betty says with a shaky voice. “There’s something that we need to tell you.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The big reveal of what they did comes next! Get excited!


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Spring Break. Senior year. March 18th, just after midnight._
> 
> Archie is driving the jalopy back towards home after a party a Reggie’s; he had insisted that they all celebrate St. Patrick’s Day since it is technically the last holiday before everyone starts going off to school. Even though none of them were old enough to drink, half of the senior class showed up anyway- Betty, Veronica, and Jughead included.
> 
> They’re driving through a back road in Fox Forrest, a shortcut that Archie knows. The half-moon in the sky isn’t giving much as far as light and there are no street lamps this far into the woods, making it nearly impossible to see if anything is coming until it’s right in front of you. A cool breeze surrounds the car, a crisp, tight feeling in the air.
> 
> “Arch, are you sure it’s safe to be going this way?” Betty asks, “It’s so dark, how can you see anything?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warning in the end notes.

_Spring Break. Senior year. March 18 th, just after midnight. _

Archie is driving the jalopy back towards home after a party a Reggie’s; he had insisted that they all celebrate St. Patrick’s Day since it is technically the last holiday before everyone starts going off to school. Even though none of them were old enough to drink, half of the senior class showed up anyway- Betty, Veronica, and Jughead included.

Veronica- a giggly, clingy drunk, apparently- is leaning her head on Archie’s shoulder even though he’s trying to drive. Betty and Jughead are in the back, sitting so close that they’re thighs are touching and their hands interlocked.

They’re driving through a back road in Fox Forrest, a shortcut that Archie knows. The half-moon in the sky isn’t giving much as far as light and there are no street lamps this far into the woods, making it nearly impossible to see if anything is coming until it’s right in front of you. A cool breeze surrounds the car, a crisp, tight feeling in the air.

“Arch, are you sure it’s safe to be going this way?” Betty asks, “It’s so dark, how can you see anything?”

“Betty, _relaaaax_ ,” Veronica slurs. “Arch’kins always knows what he’s doing.”

“It’s fine, Betty, really. Besides we’re not that far from home.” 

“I wish we could’ve stay’d longer… I was having so much fun!”

“Fun with what?” Jughead cajoles. “Playing beer pong with Cheryl and Toni? Yeah, sounds like a whole lot of fun. If fun involved getting an early start on ruining your liver.”

Veronica turns over her shoulder with a pathetic excuse for a glare. “Jus’ cause you’re afraid to drink because of your dad doesn’t mean I can’t.”

“ _Hey_ ,” Betty interjects sharply.

Archie tries, “Guys, I’m trying to drive can’t this wait until later?”

Jughead glares right back at Veronica. “At least my dad doesn’t try and murder teenagers just for getting in his way.”

Betty cuts him off loudly, saying, _“Jughead.”_

“Will you both shut- fuck, _shit!”_ Archie yells.

In a split second, the crunching of metal and glass breaking is drowning out the sound of everything else as the jalopy T-bones the front of another car at an invisible intersection. Archie slams on the brakes but it does little to help; both cars continue to move, veering off to the right. He regains control of the jalopy and it finally screeches to a stop, making all of them jolt forward in their seats slightly.

Archie’s hands tremble as he puts the car in park, turning off the car entirely. He hadn’t even seen the car _coming_.

No one makes a sound. Hell, all of them hardly breathe. After a beat- after his brain finally catches up to what just happened- Archie looks around at all of them, taking in their equally panicked faces. They’re all covered in small shards of glass from when the windshield caved in, scratching up all of their necks and faces.

“Ar- Are you guys okay?”

Veronica doesn’t respond at all; her eyes are locked on the hood of the car. Just like Archie, Betty’s hands shake where they hover over her lap- she’s got a cut near her ear that’s leaving a bloody line down the side of her neck.

Jughead, on the other hand, is doing everything he can to get _out_ of the car. His hands scramble for the door handle, tugging and tugging but not getting anywhere. If Archie didn’t know any better, he would think his friend is having a panic attack.

“Jug,” Archie tries; his throat is impossibly dry. “Jughead, you need to _push_.”

Archie reaches behind his seat, pushing the next time Jughead pulls and making the door swing open. Jughead falls out of the jalopy without an ounce of grace, his knees cracking as he lands in the middle of the road. Betty slides out after him, helping him to his feet and then places her hands on either side of his face for a moment before pulling her to him, hugging him around the neck.

Archie gets out of the car as well, moving around the front of the car and- the hood is _totaled_ , it’s a miracle that none of them were injured any further.

He steps around the glass and other debris, making his way to Veronica’s car door. There are skid marks in the paint from when the jalopy dragged alongside the other car. There’s a dent in the frame of the door making it so that Archie has to _yank_ just to finally get the door open.

Veronica still doesn’t react even after Archie has gotten the door open. She keeps staring at the front of the car and all of its mangled mess.

“Veronica,” Archie says, crouching down and reaching in to squeeze her hand. “Ronnie, talk to me. Are you hurt at all?”

She still doesn’t say anything which only makes Archie panic more; he glances back at the other car and in a split second, every single hair on Archie’s body feels like it just came alive. He looks over at Betty and Jughead; they both look as afraid as Archie feels right now.

Betty asks, “Archie?”

“Did you check the other driver?”

“Wh-

“The other driver- is the other driver okay?”

Jughead’s eyes go wide as he steps away from Betty, walking back until he reaches the other vehicle; upon seeing the damage, he lets out a low, _“Oh god.”_

Archie and Betty move towards him, wanting to get a look for themselves; Betty gets there before Archie, but the loud gasp she lets out is telling enough as to how bad it is.

The driver's side of the car is destroyed- there’s no way anyone is getting that door open without a pair of jaws. The driver is an older man who is completely unconscious, his neck cocked at a bad angle. A spider web shatter covers the windshield from where he must have hit the window-

There’s blood _everywhere_.

“I didn’t, h-he didn’t have his lights on,” Archie stammers. “I would’ve- I would’ve _stopped_.”

“Is he,” Betty tries to say, “Please tell me that he’s not dead.” 

Jughead looks between the two of them before stepping closer to the car. Anxiously, he reaches inside of the car, pressing two of his fingers to the man’s neck.

“I can’t- I don’t know if he has a pulse.” Jughead says after a minute. “It’s too slippery I can’t feel anything- we can’t be here. We need to leave right now, all of us.”

“Jughead, _no_.” Betty says, ending with a whine.

“Betty, it’s bad news for all of us if we get caught here, don’t you get that? We’ll go to jail if anyone finds about this. Serious time, for all of us. We’ll be stuck in this town for the rest of our lives!”

“But the Serpents, they can help with this, that’s what they’re there for-.”

“I can’t protect all of you, don’t you get that!?”

Archie yells, “Then what the hell are we supposed to do?”

Jughead fumbles for a response. He turns back towards the car and reaches inside, digging around in the console, not caring that the glass is cutting up his arms. He pulls out the driver’s cell phone, and flips it open, already pushing buttons.

“Jug, what- what are you doing?”

Jughead holds a finger up to his mouth, telling them both to be quiet. After the third ring, a small voice comes out of the phone saying, _“911, what’s your emergency? ...This is 911, please tell us your emergency.”_

Jughead lets go of the phone so that it falls into the driver’s lap, making it look like he dropped it before passing out. Then, Jughead pushes at Archie and Betty, makes sure that they’re nowhere near the ruined car and out of earshot of the phone when he says, “Give me your keys.”

“What?”

“Give me your keys, Archie. I’m gonna get the jalopy out of here.”

“Are you crazy? I’m not leaving you behind-.”

Jughead pulls the keys out of Archie’s hand, his bloody fingers making a mess on Archie’s shirt. “Arch, _listen to me._ We’ve got at most four minutes before a rescue squad shows up to figure out why the hell no one else was on the other end of that call and we _cannot_ be here when that happens. I don’t care how you do it just get as far away from here as you can; I’ll meet up with all of you later, but right now I need you to leave. Alright?”

Despite not wanting to, Archie finds himself nodding; off in the distance, there’s the sound of sirens coming, getting closer and closer.

Jughead rips off his beanie, shoving it in the middle of Archie’s chest. He looks at Archie and Betty one last time, saying, “Get Veronica out of the car and then _run_.”

Betty tugs at Archie’s arm until his feet finally move in the right direction. He swings back around to Veronica’s door, reaching in and shaking her shoulder.

“Veronica…Ronnie, baby, we’ve got to go.”

Slowly, Veronica looks over at him with glassy eyes. Mutedly, she finally asks, “What have we done?”

An awful, aching feeling bursts in his chest, scaring him in a way that he hasn’t felt in more than a year. He shakes his head, willing the feeling to go away, then grabs both of Veronica’s hands.

“C’mon,” he says frantically, “We need to leave.”

Veronica stumbles as Archie pulls her out of the car, struggling to find her footing. All three of them take off down the middle of the road, putting as much distance between themselves and the wreck as they can manage.

When he reaches for V’s hand to help pull her along, Archie remembers the last time he was in these woods running for his life, running from Penelope Blossom and her nightmare-ish friends. That was barely a year ago; trouble really is never far away, especially in a town like Riverdale.

“Hey- this way!” Betty says suddenly, directing them all into the thick of trees.

Their visibility has gone from low to nonexistent. They can’t even tell what they’re running towards anymore. Whether it’s because of clumsiness or his own bad luck, Archie trips and makes a nose dive towards the ground. He grunts when his knees come into contact with a thick tree root; he’s definitely going to have a bruise there tomorrow.

Betty circles back to help pull him to his feet, leading the group. “We have to keep moving,” she says, “I can still hear the sirens.”

All of their legs are beginning to burn, but they’ve gotta keep moving until there’s at least a few miles between themselves and that wreck. After what feels like an hour of panicked, poorly guided, stumbling- the three of them come to a stop in the middle of the woods, having found a wide clearing.

Betty’s hands fly to her hair, smoothing back the strands that have come loose from her ponytail as she paces. Veronica sits on the mossy, damp ground, still too intoxicated to make sense of anything that’s happening. 

“We shouldn’t have left him there,” Archie says, still looking at the beanie in his hands. “We need to go back; we have to help Jughead.”

“Archie, _no_. Jughead has a plan, he’ll find a way to fix all this.”

“But what if he didn’t get away soon enough? What if the cops-”

“Jug _knows_ what he’s doing! He-… who’s, who’s blood is that?”

Startled and confused, Archie pulls his t-shirt away from his skin, trying to get a better look. Sure enough, right in the middle of his chest, there’s a bloodstain looking like ink smeared across paper.

“Jug, he pushed at me after he checked that guys- shit.” The _oh fuck it’s not mine_ realization is so sudden and rapturing that Archie feels like he might be sick.

Betty’s eyes go wide just like Archie’s. Then, she’s pulling at the buttons on her blouse, saying, “Clothes. We need to get out of these clothes right now- we have to start a fire.”

With numb, hands, Archie starts removing his clothing. There’s a voice in the back of his head screaming _WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! IDIOT YOU KNOW THIS IS WRONG. BE A MAN ABOUT THIS. YOU CANT IGNORE WHAT YOU DID._

The next thing he knows, he’s standing in front of a fire in only his underwear, still holding onto Jughead’s hat. Betty and Veronica are both to his left; Betty keeps saying something but he can’t focus over all the yelling in his head-

“ _Archie_ \- are you listening to me?”  

“Yeah,” he says in a daze; none of this feels real anymore.

Betty continues, “We have to burn all of our clothes- including Jughead’s beanie. We’ll wash off the blood in the swimming hole. After tonight, we’ll never speak of this… ever.  Not to each other, not to our parents, no one. We finish our senior year, we graduate and we’ll go our separate ways. That is the only way that we won't get caught… do it.”

Archie can feel Betty’s eyes burning a hole into the side of his head. He doesn’t want to- everything in him telling him not to do this- but Archie doesn’t have a choice.

He tosses the hat into the fire, watching the fabric begin to wither away almost immediately. It feels like he’s watching his innocence go up in flames, _literally_. Archie's hands are still shaking when he looks down at them. It feels like someone else is in control of his body, making him do all these awful things.

A sound pulls him out of his desensitized state; looking over, he finds Veronica turned away from the group, getting sick to her stomach, whether it’s from the nerves or the alcohol no one knows. He fumbles his way over to her, rubbing her back and crouching next to her. There’s a stilted, hiccupping cry coming out of her- Archie has the feeling he’d be doing the same thing if he could get all of the overwhelming noise in his head to stop.

He looks back at Betty; whether it’s from the smoke or her emotions getting the better of her, her eyes are misty.

“I’m taking Veronica home,” he says, a shitty attempt at sound brave. “You should go back to Jughead’s, Betty, to make sure he got home okay.

He doesn’t wait for her to answer, too anxious to get out of there already. Archie takes Veronica by the hand, doing his best to lead her out of the woods in the dark.

Just as they have made it out of the woods and onto the main road into town, the sky decides it wants to let down waterworks of its own, a light sprinkle dropping down onto their skin. Archie looks at Veronica, thinking back on what Betty said, about going their separate ways- and he already knows what needs to happen. He hates himself for it.

_I can’t bear to break her heart again… but what other choice do I have?_

 

 

 

_March 18 th, around seven am. _

After Archie sends the text, it only takes ten minutes to get everyone there. They all meet in the middle of the street, the intersection of Third and Elm- Archie and Betty’s neighborhood- all wearing equally worn out faces.

Veronica is the last one to arrive since she lives the furthest away. Her arms are already crossed as she walks up to the group, like being here is the last thing that she wants right now. Still, she asks, “Have any of you looked at the news this morning? That guy… did he-?”

“No,” Jughead says, almost too quickly, “And we shouldn’t. The less we know about the outcome of the wreck, the better.”

“But-.”

“He’s right, V,” Betty interjects. “If we get caught snooping around or asking questions then someone might get suspicious… we can’t get any more involved. Enough damage has been done as it is.”

Jughead directs his attention to Archie. “Where is it?”

“Where’s- where’s what?”

“My hat, Arch. Where’s my hat?”

“I don’t have it; we burned all of our clothes, including your hat.”

Jughead’s eyes nearly pop out of his head. “You set my cap on fire!?”

“Don’t get mad at me- it was Betty’s idea! What’d you do with my car?”

“I torched it,” Jughead says like the answer should’ve been obvious.

Archie mimics his stunned face, bellowing, _“You torched my car!?”_ Everyone else is quick to shush him, trying to keep any passers-by from hearing him. 

Jughead speaks up before Archie can try and yell at him again. “I had to, alright? The thing was literal evidence, I couldn’t just leave it in a scrapyard in the middle of the night with no explanation. Someone would trace it back to us. I drove it as far as I could out of town and then doused it with gasoline, burned the registration, too. No one is even gonna know that it was ever your car.”

Archie rolls his tongue inside of his mouth, still frustrated.

Veronica speaks up, “And you’re sure no one saw you?”

“ _Yes_ , I’m sure. Are you sure you weren’t too drunk to remember any of it?”

She sneers, stepping closer, “Say that again, Jones, and we’ll see how much you remember after I-.”

_“Ronnie.”_

“V, stop it, come on.” Betty tries, but it’s a useless attempt.

Jughead narrows his eyes, cocking his head to the side, “You know that’s a lot of big talk for the daughter of a-.”

“Jughead!”

Archie puts an arm between both of them, saying, “Both of you, cut the shit; seriously, you guys are being stupid.”

“No,” Veronica retorts, shoving Archie’s arm away from her. “Stupid was letting Jughead go along with his ridiculous plan. We should have stayed and admitted to what happened- we shouldn’t have run! It was an accident!”

“If we stayed, we would’ve been _arrested_ , don’t you understand that? Not all of us can afford to have someone else pay our bail and get us out of every little thing we do. I can’t make money appear and then have this go away.”

“I don’t want to make this go away; I wanna be honest, _for once_. Do you get that? Or have you spent too much time telling someone else’s story to grasp what that is?”

Jughead’s face morphs into something sour, his top lip curling in disgust. “Fuck you. What the hell do you know about honesty? …Fess up, go ahead, see if I care; but don’t make me your first phone call when the close quarters get to be too much. I’m done trying to help.”

He turns on his heel, walking away from all of them- much to Betty and Archie’s dismay; Veronica makes a face, looking as pissed as the universe has ever seen her. “Yeah, well at least my mom sticks around when my old man can’t keep his shit together!”

Jughead doesn’t turn back even once; Veronica’s eyes are burning with unshed tears. She turns away from her friends, shrugging off Archie’s arm when he touches her shoulder.

Archie looks over to Betty, trying not to make a scornful face when he meets her eye. “She’s right, you know. We shouldn’t have left last night.”

“You heard what Jug said, Archie; we would’ve gotten in trouble.”

“More trouble than we’ve already gotten ourselves into before? Really?” Archie scoffs, “I find that hard to believe… see you around, Betty.”

Archie walks away, back towards his house; hopefully, his dad doesn’t ask what he was doing out so early.

“The damage has already been done, Arch!” Betty calls from down the street. “We have to move on and put it behind us.”

He wants to argue with her, but he doesn’t have the energy for it. The last twelve hours have been such a mess… and he’s got a sick feeling that it’s only going to get worse from here.

 

 

 

_Post Senior Year. Morning that they leave for school._

Ever since that night in the woods, all of them steered clear of any and all town gossip, not wanting to walk into a confession that they couldn’t later get themselves out of. It would only take one slip up to ruin everything for them. The four of them tried to keep their public conversations to a minimum, not wanting to draw attention to themselves.  

The four of them had agreed on a few things: we don’t tell each other where we’re going to that trouble can’t follow us, we don’t keep in contact after we move out, and we don’t come back to Riverdale again. They can’t get accused of anything if they’re not there to speak on it, right?

Now, here they are, meeting up again and for one last time at the corner and third and elm; all of their faces are just as grim as the last time they met like this.

“It feels weird,” Archie says as the group comes together. “That we’re all leaving.”

Veronica mutters, “It’s weird that we’re not leaving _together_.”

Betty bites her lip almost guiltily and glances at Jughead; it doesn’t go unnoticed.

Veronica narrows her eyes at them. “What was that look about? And don’t try and tell me that it’s nothing because that won’t work.”

Jughead looks down, linking his and Betty’s hands together, then squares his shoulders. “We’re leaving together.” 

Both Veronica and Archie gape at them; Veronica sputters, “You’re joking, you- you have to be… we all agreed that we wouldn’t tell each other where we were going. Betty, you were the one that insisted we all had to go our separate ways!”

“Yeah, well, I changed my mind,” Betty says, her tone bordering on the line of rude. “Just cause you and Archie couldn’t make it work doesn’t mean that we can’t.”

“Thanks, Betty,” Archie remarks in a snarky tone but it’s drowned out by Veronica’s scoff.

“Of course, you two would pull something like this; it’s practically second nature for you. You wanna go be Bonnie and Clyde, then be my guest. I’m done with this stupid town.”

Veronica turns to walk away and Archie moves to do the same thing; they both halt at the sound of Betty’s voice.

“Wait, you guys, just- one last thing, please.”

Begrudgingly, both of them stop, squaring their shoulders as they turn around. 

Betty looks around at all of them, meeting their eyes, trying to get her point across. “We all know what we did. We have to make sure that no one else ever finds out about this, or we’re all dead. Nobody can know but us.”

Everyone just nods, not wanting to admit that she’s right. None of them stand around much longer; besides, they still have lives to pack up before they leave this town for good. It goes unsaid, but none of them have a damn clue what to do if this ever comes back to haunt them- and, with their luck, it’ll be right when they least expect it. Maybe, just this once, life will them a break and learn to leave well enough alone. Only time will tell, but one thing’s for sure- none of them are going to forget what went on in those woods, not for as long as they live.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: While driving home, the core four get into a car wreck and then flee the scene of the crime. This chapter has (some) blood, injury, underage drinking, vomiting, and general paranoia. Lots of arguing. 
> 
> Did I take Betty's direct lines from the end of 3x22 just for this chapter? Yes, yes I did. (And If I had to guess, I have anywhere from 3-5 more chapters left, just a heads up.)


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Betty finishes telling the story, and Kevin looks like he doesn’t believe a single thing he’s heard in the last half an hour. He keeps looking around at all of them, waiting for one of them to crack or say _ha ha just kidding jokes on you Kev,_ but no one does. He gapes at all them a little longer, still exasperated.
> 
> “Wait- let me get this straight. So, you guys didn’t tell anyone… for _eight_ years?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warning in the endnotes.

_March 19 th. Delivery room. _

Betty finishes telling the story, and Kevin looks like he doesn’t believe a single thing he’s heard in the last half an hour. He keeps looking around at all of them, waiting for one of them to crack or say _ha ha just kidding jokes on you Kev,_ but no one does. He gapes at all them a little longer, still exasperated.

“Wait- let me get this straight. So, you guys didn’t tell anyone… for _eight_ years?”

There’s a drawn-out silence in the room; Archie and Jughead stay still as statues on the couch. On her chair at the end of the bed, Veronica crosses one leg over the other; her whole is body rigid.

Genevieve fusses for a moment and Betty rocks her lightly. She says, “It’s not like we wanted to keep it a secret, but-.”

“But some of us insisted we had to,” Veronica interjects, tone cold as ice; Jughead doesn’t have to ask to know that she’s talking about him.

Still baffled, Kevin shifts his attention. “Jughead, you- you lit Archie’s car on fire… in a junkyard?”

He nods. “Scratched out the VIN number and everything. The last thing we needed was a deputy showing up wondering why Archie’s piece of shit car had gone up in flames.”

“ _Hey_ ,” Archie jeers.

“Arch, how did you explain all this to your dad? He had to have noticed your car was gone.”

“I told him there was a problem with the engine,” he says. “Made up some lie about it costing more to fix than to just replace it, I’m not sure that he bought it, but he didn’t bring it up again either.”

Kevin stands up, running a hand through his hair as he still tries to process everything. “And I’m the only one who knows about any of this?”

All four of them nod, and he lets out a deep sigh; it’s obvious that he doesn’t know what to do with any of this information.

“And this guy that you hit, he’s…?”

“A friend of my dad’s, apparently,” Archie says, solemn. “He spoke at the funeral yesterday.”

Kevin’s eyes nearly come out of his head, “That guy in the wheelchair?”

Archie nods and Jughead squeezes his shoulder once.

“Alright,” Kevin says standing up slowly like he’s putting the pieces together. “I can’t say that I understand you guys not going to the police about all of this- but if nothing else, I think you guys should tell this dude about what really happened.”

“Kevin!” Betty says, sour and shocked.

“Are you being serious right now?” Veronica asks with a glare.

“Hear me out alright? This guy-.”

“Reed Wilson.” Archie supplies.

“-Reed Wilson, thank you, has more than likely spent the last eight years trying to figure out how this accident happened. He’s probably been beating himself up this whole time for not knowing what caused all of this. Think about it, wouldn’t you guys be pissed as all hell if someone left you permanently injured and you didn’t have a clue as to who did it? Or without an apology?”

“It was an _accident_ ,” Betty reminds Kevin.

“Yeah. An accident that all of you _ran_ from.”

“Are you sure that telling him is really a good idea?” Jughead asks, “What if he decides to press charges? Or retaliate?”

Kevin shrugs. “You won’t know unless you try. Plus, if nothing else- it wouldn’t hurt to get rid of this guilt that all of you have obviously been holding onto.”

After all of them have taken a moment to take everything in, Archie says, “He’s got a good point, you guys.”

“Are you seriously entertaining this idea?” Jughead asks.

Archie gestures to his left. “Betty was the one who said someone needs to hold us accountable- it might as well be the victim in this situation. I could call him; his number is probably in my dad’s address book somewhere.”

“This is insane,” Betty offers. “We don’t even really know him- I can’t go talk to this guy, not with a newborn baby.”

“We don’t all have to go; but if we’re going to do this, then we all have to agree to it. No making decisions for everyone else, we’ll find something that works for all of us or we don’t do it at all. Sound good?” Archie looks around at all of them, trying to make sure that they’re each on the same page.

Betty and Jughead nod despite looking unsure about all of it; Veronica still has a stony look on her face, but meets Archie’s eye nonetheless. She purses her lips together before saying, “Alright… let's go talk to him; it’s not like we have many other options.”

Archie gets to his feet and says, “I’ll make the call,” then steps out of the room.

Kevin settles his hand on Veronica’s shoulder, squeezing lightly. “This is going to work out one way or another,” he says. “You’ll see.”

_Yeah_ , Veronica thinks to herself, _that’s what I’m afraid of._

 

 

 

Whether it’s luck or their own misfortune, Reed picks up the phone the first time that Archie calls and says, “I’m glad you called, I didn’t get to talk to you at the services. How’re you doing bud?”

Archie stammers over his words and tries not to think about how he purposefully kept himself in conversations to avoid Reed altogether. Archie can’t imagine what he would’ve said if he had tried to make small talk in such a public setting. Before he really knows what’s happening, Archie finds himself agreeing to come to lunch in two days time and asks if he can bring some friends as well.

“Of course!” Reed says. “Any friend of Fred Andrews is a friend of mine, bring whoever you’d like.”

Archie can’t but to think: _you’re gonna wish you didn’t know me after we tell you everything._

This leads them to right now. Archie, Jughead, Veronica, and Kevin walking up the front steps to Reed Wilson's house, three of them with clammy hands.

“For the record,” Veronica says, “I still think this is a terrible idea.”

“Then why did you agree to do it?” Jughead asks, bewildered.

“Because I’d rather confess than feel guilty about this for the rest of my life!”

The front door opens and all of them freeze. A woman with short, brown hair is there, giving a timid smile. She asks, “Can I help you?”

Archie clears his throat, “Hi, uh, we’re here to see Mr. Wilson-.”

“Oh, you must be Fred’s son- go ahead, come on in, Reed is in the dining room.”

As she’s leading them into the house, the woman introduces herself as Anita, Reed’s wife, and Archie silently hopes that she doesn’t notice how sweaty his palms are. Just like she said, Reed is in the dining room, seated at the end of a long table. He looks up and smiles when he notices the group coming towards; he backs his chair up, wheeling away from the table.

Archie forces a smile onto his face so wide that it makes his cheeks hurt. He stretches his hand out, saying, “Hey, Mr. Wilson.”

“Please- you can call me Reed.”

Archie nods then gestures behind him. “Oh, um- these are my friends; sorry for bringing such a crowd.”

“Hey now, it’s alright,” Reed says as he shakes everyone else’s hands. “I’m used to the company. Lord knows your dad was here more than anybody else in this town.”

Archie musters a laugh. “Yeah, yeah I’m sure he was…”

“Aw, hell- where are my manners? Let's sit. We can take this into the living room.”

Reed maneuvers his wheelchair in front of the coffee table and Anita appears over his shoulder with a plate of cookies; she places them on the table before laying her hand on the back of Reed's neck. Jughead, Archie, and Veronica sit on the long couch on the other side of the table while Kevin rests on the arm of it.

Veronica finds Archie’s hand right away, hiding their linked fingers between their legs.

“I gotta tell you, Archie, I really am glad that you called- having Fred over for dinner was just about the highlight of my week. I don’t know who I’m gonna tell all my bad stories to now.”

“I know what you mean,” Archie says. “It hasn’t really kicked in yet for me either.”

Jughead nudges him, a silent way of saying _get to the point_ ; Archie straightens his shoulders. “I-I feel kind of bad actually, I had no idea that you used to work for my dad. I thought I knew everyone on his crew.”

“Well, I mostly helped out in the background, office work, bills and such- didn’t do a whole lot of the building myself. I had to step back after my accident; trying to move a wheelchair around a construction site isn’t exactly a walk in the park.”

Archie just nods, not sure of a way to respond to that that won’t incriminate him right out of the gate. “I, I’m really sorry to hear that.”

Anita pulls a sour face from behind Reed. “It’s ridiculous really. Some monster gets to walk away from the scene of a crime without penalty and Reed gets stuck in a wheelchair for the rest of his life-.”

Reed cuts her off, placing his hand on top of hers and speaking quietly to her; Archie feels Veronica squeeze his hand even tighter.

“Excuse me,” Anita says after taking a moment to herself. “I have to get back to work, I’ll be in the office.”

Reed waits until she’s out of earshot. “She doesn’t like to talk about it much. I think she’s angrier about the accident than I am at this point.”

“You’re not mad?” Veronica asks in a small voice.

“Not like I used to be. I mean- for a while, afterward, yes- I was. I was mad all of the time. But being pissed at the world wasn’t going to change what happened. As much as answers would be nice, that wouldn’t solve everything… just as well, I-.” Reed stops himself, rubbing his fingers over his mouth.

“Just as well what?” Jughead asks.

Timidly, Reed lowers his voice and says, “It was late and both of my headlights decided to go out, nothing I could do about it. I wanted to avoid other drivers or getting stopped by the police so I took a different route, but instead-.

Out of nowhere. Archie blurts out, “Instead you got t-boned at an intersection in the middle of Fox Forest after midnight? On a back road that nearly no one knows about?”

Jughead and Veronica turn to stone on either side of him. He doesn’t have to look to know that their eyes are as fearful as ever.

Reed’s eyebrows furrow, confused. “How did you know that?”

Archie looks between all Jughead and Veronica, finding reassurance when they nod back at him. “Because I was there… we were in the other car that night, the one that hit you.”

Reed leans forward in his chair as much as he can. “What the hell are you talking about?”

Once Archie starts telling the story he can’t seem to stop. It’s not near as succinct as when Betty told it a few days ago, but he still tries. He doesn’t leave anything out, the party, Jughead’s half-cocked plan, the fire- all of it. It comes out of him so quickly that he’s not even really sure that he’s making any sense. Jughead and Veronica chime in occasionally, giving their own two cents on the situation; Reed just listens, taking in everything carefully, processing on his own.

When Archie finishes, his shoulders finally lose their tight posture. He wants to relax completely and sink into the couch until it swallows him whole- but he can’t. Reed hasn’t said a single word yet and Archie can’t let go of the breath he’s holding in until he says _something_ -

“And how do you play into all this?” Reed asks, looking up at Kevin.

“I’m the only other one that knows about any of this. They told me a few days ago.”

“And your other friend that was in the car- Beth?”

“Betty.” Jughead corrects.

“Betty- why isn’t she here?”

“She couldn’t come, she uh- she just had a baby. Same day as the accident, actually.”

“A baby?” Reed asks breathlessly and everyone nods. “That’s… wow.”  

No one says anything for a while. The four on the sofa wait for a greater response from Reed; there’s a glassy, far away look in his eyes that speaks for itself. After an almost too long, stressful silence, he says, “Okay.”

Archie can’t hide his confusion. “Okay?”

Reed nods. “Okay.”

He looks between Jughead and Veronica, trying to figure out if they’re all hearing the same thing. “That’s it?” Archie asks, “You aren’t like- mad or something?”

Reed shakes his head which only adds to the group’s confusion.

“Sir, we just admitted to a massive crime,” Jughead interjects. “We nearly killed you.”

“I _know_ ;" he says, his tone still hushed, "And my wife doesn’t know that my headlights weren’t on when the wreck occurred.”

Archie feels the hair on the back of his neck stand up. “So- so, wait, she-.”

“She doesn’t know that I was also partially at fault. Anita thinks that the accident and my resulting injury was caused because of someone else’s carelessness. My wife is angry enough about all of this… I fear she’d leave me if I told her the truth after all this time.”

Archie feels like his eyes are about to pop out of his head; he can’t believe what he’s hearing.

“So what do you want us to do?” Veronica asks.

Reed shrugs. “Go home. Move on with your lives. You told me your secrets- and I appreciate that, I really do- but now I need you to keep mine. Please, for the sake of my family- don’t tell anyone about this. Nobody needs to know but us… okay?”

Archie takes a deep breath, feeling like he’s walking through a dream. He stands up, around the table and sticking his hand out towards Reed. With a firm shake, he says:

“You have our word.”

Ten minutes later, after thanking Anita for the cookies and a few more pointed glances from Reed, the four of them are walking out the door. There’s a weird feeling in the air that Archie can’t quite place, but he doesn’t say anything about it. He doesn’t want to ruin the moment.

Veronica pauses on the walkway as the door shuts behind them, turning to face the boys. There is no hiding the utter shock on her face when she says, “ _What_ the hell just happened?” 

“I’m not quite sure,” Jughead says. “But I think it was a miracle.”

 

 

 

When Archie, Veronica, and Jughead get back to the hospital, Betty has all of her things packed up and Genevieve in her car seat, finally ready to leave after a three-day stay. They tell her everything, right down to the last detail and she looks just as bewildered as all of them did when they first heard it.

“And he’s not mad?” she asks.

“No, not at all,” Archie says. “He just- kept saying okay; it’s like he already made his peace with all of it.”

“And he doesn’t want to press charges?”

“Not even one. He just told us to go home and move on with our lives. It was kind of bizarre actually.”

“I know,” Veronica starts. “I almost don’t wanna believe it… we can finally put all of this behind us.”

This is all it takes to make Betty burst into tears. The sound is so sudden and startling that it’s a miracle she doesn’t wake up Genevieve. One hand flies to her mouth while the other goes to her chest, landing right over her heart; if they didn’t know any better, her friends would think she was sad.

Veronica goes to Betty first, her gentle arms wrapping around Betty’s waist; Betty wraps an arm around Veronica’s shoulder and then uses the other one to make grabby hands at Archie and Jughead. They come forward as well, joining in on the hug; Jughead presses himself against Betty’s back and Archie does the same with Veronica.

Betty tilts her head back after a minute, sweeping away tears with her long sleeves as she sighs. She says, “I never thought this day was going to come. I’m so glad this is _over_.”

They’re all keeping a secret still- but in a way, they feel half as guilty as they did when they woke up this morning- so it’s worth living with.

Jughead is the first one to step back, trying to be discreet about wiping his eyes. “C’mon,” he says, “Let’s get out of here; there’s a whole world out there for Genevieve to see.”

 

 

 

Betty doesn't have a damn clue as to when Archie had time to set up a bassinet for her but she's grateful for it. Genevieve is still asleep when they get back to the house and Betty decides it's time that she took a much-needed shower; she keeps looking down at Genevieve and smiling, still amazed that she was able to create something so precious.

She turns to head towards the bathroom and finds Jughead standing in the doorway to Archie's room. 

"Oh, hey," she says. “What’s up?”

“Nothing. Just thought I would come and check on you two; she still asleep?”

“Yeah. I’ll have to wake her up soon so she can eat so I might as well get a shower in while I can.”

“I can keep an eye on her while you’re in there, if you want.”

“That would be great, Jug, thanks.” He doesn’t move from the door right away, making Betty think that he had another reason for coming up here. She about to ask if there’s something on his mind when Jughead answers for her, stepping forward.

“So,” he draws out, “When do you and Genevieve go back to Vermont?”

_I’ve been expecting that question for two days,_ Betty thinks to herself, _I’m surprised that he even waited this long._ She smiles smugly, saying, “Actually, I was thinking that we’d stay here for now.”

“Really?” Jughead says, his high tone giving away his surprise.

Betty hasn’t mentioned this to anyone yet- hell, she wasn’t even sure that it was a good idea five minutes ago. It was just something she started to consider yesterday morning while she was watching the way everyone was acting around Genevieve, how sweet they were all being towards her. Now that she’s said the idea out loud, she can’t imagine doing anything else.

“Yeah, really. I can work from anywhere according to my boss, it’s not really a hassle. Besides, my apartment in Jericho didn’t have a lot of stuff as it is; moving wouldn’t be that hard. That and… I don’t know, I guess Riverdale isn’t as bad as I’ve been telling myself all this time. Or just better than I remembered, in some weird way… does that make sense?”

Jughead nods. “You’re sure about this?”

Betty nod right back, taking a small step closer. “My friends are here; my kid was born here… why would I ever leave that behind?” Her voice goes soft at the end- the look of pure adoration on Jughead’s face making her head spin.

“Sounds like a good plan, then,” he replies, just as soft.

It takes her a second, but Betty straightens up, squaring her shoulders. “What about you?” She asks, “Is Philly calling you back already?”

Jughead leans his back against the door frame, shrugging his shoulders. “I don’t know. My editor is probably wondering why I fell off the map, but staying in town a while longer doesn’t sound like the worst thing. It would be good to spend some more time with Jellybean and my dad. Plus- I think Archie might actually sell the house if we leave him alone for more than five minutes.”

They both laugh lightly, their heads leaning in towards each other. There is less than six inches of space between them now; if Betty really wanted to, she could reach up and-

Someone banging loudly on the front door stops her before she can even consider the idea; the sound startles both her and Jughead.

“What the hell was that?”

“I don’t know,” Jughead says, “Did Archie say he was expecting somebody?”

The banging starts up again, a loud voice calling from outside, _“Police! Open up!”_

Betty and Jughead’s eyes go wide, already rushing down the stairs. Archie and Veronica are in the foyer when they get there, looking just as confused as them.

As Archie reaches for the door handle, he asks, “What the hell could they want?”

“What if Reed changed his mind?” Veronica supplies, “What if he told on us after all?”

With a grim look, Archie pulls open the door to find two Riverdale officers and other men in nice suits all standing there looking like they’ve come to collect their toll. The one in the front looks vaguely familiar; hearing Betty gasp and say _oh my God_ in shock behind him only proves his point.

“Archibald Andrews?” the man asks.

“Yes?” Archie asks, trying to hide the way his voice shakes. “What is this about?”

He flashes his ID. “FBI Agent Charles Smith- we received a tip from Anita Wilson that you were involved in a hit and run accident that nearly killed her husband- you’re going to have to come with us.”

“FBI?” Veronica interjects. “Since when does the FBI deal with car wrecks?”

“Only under special circumstances do we handle cases such as this,” he says, looking over to Betty and Jughead, his glare piercing. “Betty. Jughead- it’s been a long time.”

“B, who the hell is this? How does he know you guys?”

Betty stammers, struggling to make sense of any of this. The joyful feeling that she had in her chest only a minute ago feels like it’s crumbling down around her. “Wh-What the hell are you doing here?”

“It’s like I said, _special_ circumstances,” Charles says, then finally shifts his attention back to Archie. “Mr. Andrews you’re going to have to come with-.”

“Archie didn’t do it,” Jughead blurts out as he takes a step forward. “I did.”

Archie pleads, “Jug, don’t- now is not the time to play hero,” but it’s no use; Jughead keeps going.

“I hit Reed Wilson with the car in Fox Forest on the night of March eighteenth. Then, I drove away before setting the car on fire, destroying all forms of evidence. No one else was there but me-.”

Betty pulls on Jughead’s arm, her eyes wide with fear. “What are you doing?”

“I’m making sure that you stay _safe_ ,” he mutters. “You can’t get sucked into all of this again, not with Genevieve, she needs you.”

“It’s not every day that I get someone to do my job for me by admitting everything.” Charles interrupts them, a smug look growing on his face. “Forsythe Jones the third, you’re under the arrest for leaving the scene of a crime, intent to injure, and the destruction of evidence.”

An officer steps forward and grabs Jughead by the shoulder, turning him around harshly and pulling his arms behind his back; Jughead winces at the movement then looks up at Betty, meeting her teary, green eyes.

“I’m sorry,” he whispers. “I’m so sorry, Betty.”

No more does he get the words out and the officer is pulling him away from her and out the door. Betty makes a move towards him on shaky legs, stopping only when Archie gets his arms around her waist, keeping her from chasing after Jughead altogether.

“No- no, stop. Stop!” she screams at the officer leading Jughead away. “Let him go! Let him go, _please!”_

Her shrieking does nothing to stop the arrest; Archie doesn’t let go of her until Jughead has already been put into the back of a squad car. As it backs out into the street, Betty looks to Charles moving towards his own car; the look of sheer satisfaction on his face makes her want to scream even more.

“Why would you do that?” She yells at him. “Why did you come back here? What the hell do you want?!”

“I’m just doing my job, Betty,” Charles says, voice hard. “Jughead broke the law; he’s going to get what he deserves. It’s not up to me what happens to him now… besides, he's not my family, _right_?”

Betty feels her heart sink into her stomach at the implication, it’s an ugly reminder of what she and Jughead discovered their senior year- before that awful night in the woods ever came along and ruined her life.

Charles stares at her for a moment longer before getting into his own car and driving away; Betty barely registers anything else going on around her. It’s not until Veronica comes into her line of sight and grabs her hands that she feels like her brain has caught up to the rest of the world. She can hear Genevieve crying inside the house, the sharp sound breaking her heart all over again. 

“Betty, who was that?" She asks, "How does that guy know you and Jughead?”

“Charles,” she whispers, finally meeting Archie and Veronica's eye. “That’s my _brother_.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Jughead gets arrested by Charles Smith after (falsely) admitting to having caused the wreck all on his own. 
> 
> I couldn't let them get off _that_ easy; that's no fun. Hopefully, you guys don't hate me too much.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Archie?”
> 
> “Yeah?”
> 
> “… what if we can’t fix this? What if we can’t get Jughead out of there?”
> 
> Archie’s heart stills just for a second; he hadn’t thought that far ahead. There’s never been a problem that they couldn’t fix- not until this week, at least. It’s not a ridiculous question, but without even trying to, it reminds Archie that he’s not invincible- none of them are. He can’t escape trouble forever, as much as he might like to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My only *real* note is to pay attention to the time stamps at the beginning of each section.

_Senior year. January._

“You really don’t think that it’s even _a little bit_ weird that our shared brother was the one working with Alice?” Jughead asks. “That can’t be a coincidence.”

Charles Smith has been in Riverdale for nearly eight months has not stopped trying to befriend Betty and Jughead for even a minute. Betty doesn’t hate it. Though she’s not totally into having a new, instant brother- _again_ \- she does her best to be jovial with him. After the last one turned out so sour, she’s trying to give Charles half a chance if nothing else.

Jughead, on the other hand, refuses to wrap his head around _any of it._

They’re in the living room of the Cooper- _Jones_ house- talking about everything for the dozenth time and Betty is starting to wish that Jughead would just let it go. This conversation got old weeks ago.

“I don’t see what the big deal is, Jug,” she says, “So he was using my mom as an insider to get to the farm? What’s so weird about that? The feds have guys on the inside all of the time.”

“It’s _weird_ because he could have picked anyone, anybody in all of Riverdale and he just so happened to pick the one that gave birth to him in secret a million years ago? Aside from that-.”

“I know; it’s strange that your dad and my mom had a baby together, we’ve been over this.”

Jughead shakes his head. “No, that’s the thing- I’ve seen pictures of my dad when he was Charles age; they don’t look anything alike. There’s not a single similarity between them, or me, even. But you two? I mean- your eyes are exactly the same, right down the bits of yellow around the irises. It’s a little frightening actually."   

Betty furrows her eyebrows; a small chill runs down her spine. Her grandmother always used to comment on how Betty and her dad had the same eyes.

“What are you saying? That Charles is lying about who he is?”

“No, just-,” Jughead stops, trying to find a gentle way to put his thoughts into words. “What if he’s wrong? About who his parents are, you know? What if he’s-”

“What if he’s not actually related to both of us,” Betty finishes for him, her tone growing scared.

Jughead nods and Betty sighs heavily; this is not how she thought the conversation was going to go. She brings her hands to her hair, tugging on her ponytail. As insane as it sounds, it’s not the most ridiculous thing she’s ever heard, certainly not in a town like Riverdale. Her skin itches with the need for an answer to all of this right now.

“Okay,” she says, trying to sound sure of herself. “Then how do we figure this out? How do we prove if he’s family or not?”

Jughead gets an all too familiar look in his eye when he says, “I have an idea.”

 

 

 

_Eight weeks later. Mid-March._

“Are you sure that we wanna do this?” Betty asks. She and Jughead invited Charles over and Betty is wondering if ten minutes till is too late to cancel. There’s a letter on the kitchen table that she wishes she had never looked at in the first place.

“We have to tell him, Betts. We can’t keep leading him on acting like we don’t know anything about this.”

“But what if he gets mad-?”

A knock on the front door both stops her and makes her blood run cold. Charles lets himself into the house a few seconds later; the smile on his face is so saintly sweet that she already feels guilty.

“H-Hey, Charles.” She says, cursing internally for tripping over her words. Her gaze falls to the wide book in his hand; she asks, “What’s that?”

“Oh, it’s a scrapbook that my adoptive mom made when I was a kid; I was thinking that we could look through it together- see if there are any similarities. Well, besides the obvious, anyway.”

Betty feels sick to her stomach, wishing that she could be anywhere else in the world right now. She looks to Jughead, hoping to find some reassurance, but his gaze is locked on the baby book in Charles’ hand; he must hate this more than he originally let on.

_I’m so tired of hurting people- breaking hearts all of the time is too exhausting to keep up with._

She doesn’t realize that she’s been frowning until Charles calls her out on it.

“Something wrong, sis?” he asks. He’s been doing that more lately, calling her _sis_. Usually, Betty doesn’t mind it, but today it feels like a curse in more ways than one.

“No, no, I’m okay,” she says quickly. “There’s just, um- there’s something that we wanted to talk to you about.” 

Charles looks skeptical. “Okay… what is it?”

Betty looks to Jughead again and he nods this time. Biting her lip, she walks over to the kitchen table, picking up the wide, already opened envelope that she left there. When she hands it to Charles, he looks at it funny and starts inspecting the outside of it.

“What’s this?”

Betty wipes her clammy hands on her thighs. She doesn’t know how to say this in a way that won’t change her relationship with Charles completely- or between Charles and Jughead for that matter.

“Jughead and I- we thought it was a little odd that there isn’t any resemblance between you two, but that you and I look so much alike.”

“Well- maybe not on the outside,” Charles tries, “But what does-.”

“We did a paternity test. Between you and Jughead’s dad, to see if you’re actually his son.” Betty interrupts.

He furrows his eyes in disbelief. “A paternity test? How did you even-?”

“We took the straw from your milkshake after we went to Pop’s last month and used it as a DNA sample.”

The features of Charles' face go flat, his eyes losing all of their light. Mutedly, he asks, “Why would you do that?”

“Because we wanted to be sure,” Jughead chimes in. “We’ve been duped enough times in the last few years- it’s not ridiculous to think it might be happening again.”

“You guys really think that I would do that to you?”

“No, no, we don’t,” Betty says in rush, “Not on purpose anyway… we just wanted some answers, Charles, that’s it. That’s the only reason we did it.”

He looks down at the envelope, glaring like it’s about to explode in his hand. “Well. You two obviously already looked at it; what does it say?”

She straightens her shoulders, looking at him tensely. “It’s probably better if you look for yourself.”

Charles opens it slowly like he expects something to jump out and bite him. There’s a hard set, tenseness in his jaw that won’t let up; his eyes glisten as he reads the first page once, twice, three times over.

 

**_…The following samples given are inconclusive with each other. No biological relation between the two parties (Forsythe P. Jones and Charles A. Smith)._ **

 

Charles looks up at Jughead and Betty, his eyes bright and angry. “What the hell is this? Some kind of sick joke?”

_I wish it was,_ Betty thinks to herself; _I wish we could take it all back._

“The proof is all there,” Jughead says. “Keep looking, there’s a full genetic makeup and everything. I’m not your brother, Charles.”

He sputters. “This doesn’t make any sense. If FP’s not actually my father then- there’s not anyone else who could-!”

“There is someone, actually,” Jughead interrupts. “Keep reading.”

 

**_…The two samples given are a full match. Full biological relation between Charles A. Smith and Harold Cooper._ **

Charles locks eyes with Betty, his face pale and mortified. “This- this can’t be true. Alice said-.”

“My mom was wrong,” Betty says, trying to be gentle. “We’re full siblings, not half. On top of that, you’re the only son of a dead, widely hated, serial killer. That one is gonna take a minute to swallow, I know.”

His face turns cold in a second. Charles’ top lip begins to snarl as he says, “What are you playing at?”

“Wh- nothing, we’re not playing at anything; we wouldn’t lie about this.”

“No. No, you’re just trying to trip me up. This is revenge because we still haven’t figured out where your mom is yet.”

“This has nothing to do with my mom. Charles, you’re not listening to me.”

“Oh, no, I hear you perfectly clear, Betty. You and Jughead don’t want me here. That’s it, isn’t it? Cause you guys still think it’s fucking weird that you’re both related to me even though you’re together.”

“Have you not listened to anything we’ve said since you got here?” Jughead says, sourness dripping out of his mouth. “You’re not actually related to both of us and even if you were _it would still be weird._ We’re not doing this just to be assholes.”

Charles whole face is bright red at this point. He crumbles the papers in his hands as he steps closer, pointing his fingers in Betty’s face. “I’m gonna get to the bottom of this. If I find out you two are in on some on scheme then _I swear-.”_    

“You need to leave,” Jughead says coldly, stepping between the two of them which only pisses Charles off even more.

“This isn’t over- I’m not gonna-.”

“I said, _get out!”_ he bellows, “We don’t want you here, don’t you get that?”

This makes Charles shrink back, surprised by Jughead’s audacity. He looks between the two of them like he’s waiting for one of them to break. When that doesn’t happen, he finally retreats, taking his scrapbook and rushing out the door, letting it slam behind him. The paternity test papers are the only thing left to prove he was even there, a tattered mess standing out against the hardwood floors.

Betty feels like she can’t breathe until she hears his car drive away from the house. “He’s never going to forgive us for this,” she says.

“Maybe,” Jughead says. “But we just gotta give it time, let him cool off. It’s his own problem if he can’t deal with this.”

Jughead’s phone dings between the two of them and he digs it out of his pocket, squinting to read the small type on the screen.

“Who is it?”

“It’s Archie. Reggie is having some St. Patrick’s day themed party tomorrow night and he’s inviting the entire senior class.”

Without even taking a second to think about it, Betty says, “We should go.”

Jughead’s eyes nearly pop out of his head. “Seriously?”

“Yeah, seriously. We’re not going to get many more nights to just be teenagers and hang out with our friends, it’ll be fun. Besides, what’s the worst that could happen?”

 

 

 

_Present day. Two and half hours after Jughead’s arrest._

Archie and Veronica are sitting on either side of Betty on the staircase, both of them trying to comfort her in some way. She’s long since stopped crying, but the overwhelming feeling of panic that comes with your not quite-sort of-almost again-boyfriend getting arrested in front of you is still sitting with her, still making it impossible to breathe right.

She’s just finished catching them up on the whole Charles situation- why he was there one day and then just gone the next in the middle of their senior year. Betty can’t for the life of her figure out why today of all days had to be the day that he showed up in Riverdale. 

She holds her head in her hands, her hair falling over her face. “I don’t understand. Why would he do something like this?”

“I don’t know, Betty,” Veronica says, playing with Betty’s hair. “But we’re gonna figure this out. We’ll get Jughead out of there one way or another.”

“I thought you guys weren’t in contact with Charles,” Archie says. “What the hell is he doing in Riverdale? And the same week as my Dad’s services; that can’t be a coincidence.”

“Maybe he still had a guy on the inside, like what he was doing with the farm and B’s mom? He was probably keeping tabs on the town. Can’t say that I blamed him knowing all the shit that goes on around here.”

A cry comes from further up the stairs; Genevieve.

Betty scrambles, “Shit, I should-.”

“No. No, I got her,” Veronica says. “You stay here. I need to work on my aunt-ly duties, anyway.” Veronica ascends with graceful steps, leaving Archie and Betty alone.

“I knew I shouldn’t have come here,” she mumbles, frustrated. “This was a terrible idea- I can’t _believe_ I considered moving back here for good.”

“Wait- really?” Archie asks, surprised more than anything.

Betty nods. “That’s what Jug and I were talking about right before- you know.”

Archie lets out a long sigh. It’s a lot to take in; he didn’t think Betty was planning on staying after this week was over. Hell, _he_ wasn’t even planning on staying; he’s been living out of his suitcase the past few days. Archie didn’t see a point in unpacking when he was just going to leave again.

“You could still stay,” he finds himself saying.

Betty makes a sound similar to a laugh. "After what happened today? No. No way. There’s too much bad here. I can’t have Genevieve growing up around that. I don’t want to ruin her like that.”

“She’s four days old, Betty. I hardly think you could “ruin” her that early.”

Betty musters a smile, leaning her head on Archie’s shoulder; Archie lays his arm over her back, lightly squeezing her upper arm.

“A few bad people doesn’t mean it’s a bad town,” he says, quietly. “And Ronnie’s right, we’re gonna find a way to get Jughead out of this mess, but he’s going to need all of us.”

“What’s your point, Arch?” She lifts her head to look him in the eye.

“I think you and Genevieve should stick around-just until we get Jughead is back, then reconsider leaving for good… okay?”

She bites her lip, pondering on the suggestion. After a beat, Betty nods, quietly saying, “Alright. We’ll stay for now- but I’m not making any long term promises.”

“Understood,” Archie says, trying to hide his grin. Betty rests her head on his shoulder again and Archie presses his own cheek against her head.

“Archie?”

“Yeah?”

“… what if we can’t fix this? What if we can’t get Jughead out of there?”

Archie’s heart stills just for a second; he hadn’t thought that far ahead. There’s never been a problem that they couldn’t fix- not until this week, at least. It’s not a ridiculous question, but without even trying to, it reminds Archie that he’s not invincible- none of them are. He can’t escape trouble forever, as much as he might like to.

“I don’t know what we’ll do then, Betty,” he says, honestly. “But we’re not going to leave him behind to fend for himself, that’s for sure… I’m not going to let that happen again.”    

 

 

 

_Two months after Jughead’s arrest._

Sticking around deems itself to be trickier than they originally thought. Archie has to go back to Seattle to settle his lease, apologize to his manager for ditching, _and_  to get his car- but the cross-country drive back to Riverdale is good for him. It gives him time to think about what he wants to do with his dad’s stuff as well as the house; Fred left the house in Archie’s name without even telling him first.

Betty ends up leaving her job in Vermont and sweet talks her way into getting a job at The Register again. It’s weird working in the same space that used to be run by her parents, makes her feel fifteen again in all the ways she hated, but she's glad to be back. It’s good to see that somethings- the building, the photos, the framed articles- they’ve stayed the same even after all these years of her being away.

Veronica goes with Betty to help pack up her apartment in Vermont, but also to help with Genevieve. For now, she decides to keep her apartment in Boston; she has the means to pay for it and it never hurts to have something in your back pocket.

Jughead, on the other hand, is sitting in a cell at Lodge Detention Center still awaiting trial for a crime he helped commit _years_ ago.

It’s ironic, really. Veronica always thought that _she_ would be the first one of all her friends to end up in her father’s prison.   

This brings all of them to right now; Veronica, Archie, and Betty are all in the kitchen of the Andrews house. Archie is holding Genevieve while Betty and Veronica move around, gathering all of their things before leaving for the day; the girls are headed to the detention center, both of them to help Jughead in one way or another.

His trial is at the end of the week. None of them will come right out and say it, but they’re all terrified. If he pleads guilty- if he goes away for good- there’s no telling in how long it’ll be until they get to see him again.

“Are you sure you’re gonna be okay alone with Genevieve?” Betty asks.

Archie shifts the baby so that she’s facing outward, her small body braced against his stomach. “We’ll be fine, Betty, I promise- you guys are the ones who need all the luck you can get.”

“Yeah,” Betty says with a dry laugh, “No kidding.” She walks over and kisses Genevieve on the forehead before heading for the door.

Veronica does the same thing and then reaches up and kisses Archie on the cheek as well, causing him to blush and making Veronica smile to herself.

Betty raises a curious eyebrow at her on her way out to the car and Veronica rolls her eyes.

“Oh, give me a break, Betty. Just cause we agreed to let this play out naturally doesn’t mean that I can’t flirt with him at least a little.”

She raises her hands in surrender, still a smug smile on her face. Betty climbs into the passenger seat and asks, “Remind me again why you’re coming with me?”

“I told you last night,” Veronica says, starting the car, “I have court related business.”

Both of Betty’s eyebrows go up this time and Veronica decides she might as well bite; she can’t keep this from Betty forever. She chooses her words carefully, not wanting to give too much away.

“Believe it or not, there’s someone there who still owes me a favor.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Idk about you guys but I _love_ ominous cliff hangers.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jughead winces as he sits across from Betty, his voice raspy as he says, “Hi.”
> 
> Betty skips the greeting. “What the hell happened to you?”
> 
> He plasters a fake smile on his face. “Oh, you know,” he says sarcastically. “Just making friends.” 
> 
> “Jughead.”
> 
> His resolve falters, giving away the tense line of his shoulders. He lowers his voice. “Turns out the only thing harder than being a cop in jail is being a cop’s kid.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit of a shorter chapter but big things are coming, I promise.

Betty’s leg bounces anxiously as she waits for Jughead to be brought out, surrounded by other wives and girlfriends wanting to see the men in their lives. The men that they’re tired of missing.  

Every other time she’s tried to visit him she’s been denied for one reason or another. _He’s too belligerent_ , the warden told her, _Mr. Jones has been getting into fights with other inmates_. _He’s not allowed visitors at this time._

Last time, the reason was that Jughead flat out said no to seeing her. That one hurt more than Betty thought it would.

Today is different- today she’s seeing him _for sure_. Now if only she knew how much longer he was going to be-

The metal door nearby beeps, clicks, and then slowly opens; Jughead trails in behind a guard.

Even from far away, Betty can see the purple shiner surrounding his left eye and the way he’s not putting much weight on his right leg. The sight of him makes Betty want to take him by the hand and drag him away from this awful place, get him out of this town altogether.

Jughead winces as he sits across from Betty, his voice raspy as he says, “Hi.”

Betty skips the greeting. “What the hell happened to you?”

He plasters a fake smile on his face. “Oh, you know,” he says sarcastically. “Just making friends.”   

_“Jughead.”_

His resolve falters, giving away the tense line of his shoulders. He lowers his voice. “Turns out the only thing harder than being a cop in jail is being a cop’s kid.”

“But your dad hasn’t been Sheriff since we were in high school.”

“Yeah, well- some of the guys he locked away are still here. And still pissed off, apparently. I wanted to come out and see you the other day, I really did, but this bum leg hurt too much to get up.”

“Jug-.”

“You don’t have to do this, you know.”

“Do what?”

Jughead gestures around the room. “All of this. Fighting on my behalf- which I’m sure you’re doing- that’s not on you. I did this. I got myself into this, I’m the one that fessed up to the wreck. If being in here means keeping you and Archie and Veronica out of trouble then I’ll deal with the consequences. I don’t want you getting wrapped up in all of this mess. Coming to see me isn’t worth it.” 

“Stop that,” Betty says sharply.

“St- Stop what?”

“Pushing me away. Trying to keep me out of this. I _just_ got you back. I’m not letting you get away again… not like last time.”

His face falls and his voice goes quiet again. “I hate to break it to you, Betts, but you might not have a lot of say in that.”

Her shoulders drop in defeat. Betty tries not to let the worry show on her face. She can’t help but be anxious on Jughead’s behalf. Before Betty can ask him any other questions, ask him a way that she can try and _help_ \- Jughead changes the subject.

“No more sad stuff. How’s everything on the home front? How’s Genevieve?”

Betty’s eyes nearly pop of out of her head. “You just got _jumped_ and you’re worried about Genevieve?”

Jughead shrugs smiling lightly; she smiles back, shaking her head. They talk for a while about the typical things- town gossip, how Archie and Veronica are doing, whether or not Archie’s tried to sell the house yet, the baby.

“Where is she anyway?” Jughead asks.  

“At the house; Archie’s babysitting.”

“With Veronica?”

Betty shakes her head, “No, alone. V came with me.”

“She’s here? …why?”

“I don’t know,” she says with a shrug. “Veronica said something about a favor; I got the feeling that she didn’t want to elaborate.”

 

 

 

_Senior year. April. One-month post wreck. Four days after Veronica’s eighteenth birthday._

_I’ll be lucky if they let me in at all,_ she thinks to herself.

She looks like a complete mess and she knows it. Veronica has barely slept at all in the last four weeks. She didn’t bother with doing her hair or makeup this morning and now she’s wishing that she had; the guard that patted her down before coming in kept looking at her like she’s about two seconds from exploding.

In a way, she kind of is.

The metal seat is cold against her bare legs. That mixed with the overwhelmingly cold AC in the room is making her shiver.  

When her father is finally brought in, she finds herself surprised. After nearly a year apart, she thought he might look different. Older, mostly. But he hasn’t changed a bit; he’s still stony-faced and strong statured as ever.

At least some things never change.

Hiram looks at her carefully like he’s trying to find the quickest way to make her welch. To Veronica’s surprise, he skips the business talk. “Hello, Mija. How was your birthday?” 

_Horrible,_ she thinks to herself. _Mom was in the office until late and none of my friends are talking anymore so instead of celebrating, I stayed home and cried all night with a bottle of red wine. If I don’t tell someone about what we did then I think I’m going to burst-_

“I don’t want to talk pleasantries, Daddy,” Veronica squeaks. “I have something for you.”

None of the guards are watching- not like they care anyway; they’re all here because of Hiram in the first place. Veronica pulls a folder out of her inside pocket and slides it across the table towards her father.

Hiram doesn’t even look at it, just keeps his eyes locked on Veronica. “What is this?”

“It’s the deed to Pop’s, and La Bonne Nuit. I’m letting you have it.”   

He narrows his eyes at her, pulling the folder towards him slowly. Hiram flips through it for a minute, checking to make sure that everything is actually there, then looks up at Veronica suspiciously. He lets the folder fall shut, planting his hands on the table.

“What do you want, Veronica? Why are you giving me this?”

“I don’t want anything from you,” she says with a shake of her head. “I need to leave Riverdale. It’s not like I can take the restaurant with me.”

“And why on earth would you need to-.”

“It doesn’t matter. I just can’t stay here anymore.”

“Uh-huh… You know what this means, don’t you? You giving me this? It means I owe you a favor-.”

“Are you gonna take it or not, Dad?” Veronica asks abruptly. She’s not in the mood for bartering with him, or in staying any longer than she has to. Honestly, she thought they would’ve been done with the conversation by now; Hiram’s stalling is getting on her nerves.

Hiram is still looking at her like he’s trying to figure out what her big plan is, Veronica’s point in just giving away her diner- but he must come up with nothing. He draws his hands away from the table, a smile forming on his face. It’s just as familiar and frightening as it’s always been.

“Of course, I’ll take it,” he says. “Anything for my daughter.”

The way he says _daughter_ makes Veronica’s skin crawl, but she doesn’t say anything about it. Instead, she pulls her legs out from under the table, and heads towards the door; she’s done here, she got what she wanted. She has to force her legs not to wobble when she walks away. She’s halfway to the door when her father calls out to her, “Veronica!”

She halts where she is, turning over her shoulder to look back at him. The rest of her body is frozen. Hiram is holding the folder in both of his hands, standing now with a guard behind him.

“Whatever this is that you’re running from… make sure that it doesn’t come back to you.”

Veronica’s arms break out in goosebumps; the implication that her father can still read her inside and out makes her mind go blank. _Of course_ it would be him of all people to really notice when something bigger is going on. He’s always been an asshole but Hiram’s nothing if not attentive.

She takes a deep breath, collecting her thoughts again. Mostly to herself, she says, “I wouldn’t dare, Daddy,” then turns and leaves.

 

 

 

_Present-day. In another ward of Lodge Detention Center._

As she sits down, Veronica mutters, “Of all the places in the world, I certainly never thought that I’d be back in here.”

The visiting room hasn’t changed much from what she can remember from eight years ago, maybe a new coat of paint or two, but everything else is still the same. The guard at the front desk about lost her mind when Veronica said she was here to see Hiram; he must not get a lot of visitors- or maybe the woman just he didn’t know that he has a daughter.

She’s looking down when her father comes in so she doesn’t see him until he’s seated across from her. There are a few more laugh lines around his eyes, some more gray hairs, but he’s still Hiram. He's still the same guy who used to let her open Christmas presents early when her mother wasn’t watching.

His tone is raspier than Veronica remembers it being. “Veronica,” he says, almost surprised, “It’s been a long time. I thought I told you to stay out of trouble.”

“You did. But you still owe me that favor, remember? I’m here to cash in. I need your help.”

“What could you possibly need my help with after all this time?”

“My friend is in trouble and I need to find a way to get him out of it before he gets put away for good. You’re the only I know who could find a way out of something like this.”

“What kind of trouble?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Mija, I can’t help if I don’t what this is about-,”

“ _Fine_ ,” Veronica bites, “But first you have to ask your guards to leave. Or else I don’t tell you at all.” 

Hiram looks at her curiously, “Why?”

Veronica tries to hide the way that her hands have begun to shake. She swallows the knot in her throat before saying, “Because what I’m about to tell you can’t leave this room. If you care about me even the slightest bit, you’ll keep it between us.”

A hard look settles on Hiram’s face. “…what did you do?”

For the longest time, even the smallest reminder of what happened that night in the woods would make Veronica weep. This time though, she tells the story without so much as breaking a sweat. The only thing she omits are the names; she doesn’t want to risk giving her father a reason to come after her friends in the future. She doesn’t know what’s more surprising, the fact that she manages to keep her emotions in check or that Hiram actually looks off-put by the whole thing. Frightened, even.

“Okay,” he says after taking a minute to process all of it. “Can’t say that I’m surprised you would cover up something like that… but how am I supposed to help with all of this?”

“I need to get him _out_ ,” Veronica says. “I’ve been through his case a dozen times there’s nothing for me to use. If I don’t figure something out in the next two days then he goes to trial and it’s out of my hands. I need an investigator. Someone who’s better at being a lawyer than me; or just had more experience at least-.”

“You’re a lawyer?” Hiram almost seems surprised.

Veronica nods; for a moment, she forgot that her father doesn’t know anything about her life now. The more she thinks about it, she can’t even remember if she’s told her friends about what she does for a living. Her life has been so chaotic these last two months that it’s hard to keep track of who knows what at this point.

“I’m a defense attorney,” she says. “I mostly just make plea deals for mob bosses, try to get them a lesser sentence, if I can.”

Hiram smiles almost fondly. “I should’ve known you would do something to that degree. You always were good at the defending the family business- until you left it behind, that is.”

Her tongue feels heavy in her mouth all of a sudden. Veronica doesn’t know if that’s supposed to be a compliment or not, so she just looks down and shuffles her feet awkwardly.

“You need to look at the bigger picture here,” he says. “That’s your solution.”

“There is no bigger picture; I told you, I went over his case a dozen times-.”

“It’s the bigger picture with a smaller solution, Veronica. Look at the little details. Where exactly did the wreck occur, the junkyard where the car was left, things like that.”    

“How is that supposed to help at all?”

“Because different places have different rules.” Hiram says, “If it’s over city lines, then-.”

“Then different rules apply,” Veronica finishes for him and Hiram nods. The top of her head begins to prickle; this might be exactly what she needs to get Jughead out of trouble.

She stands up, ready to bring the good news back to her friends. Halfway towards the door, her father calls out to her. “Veronica,” he says, voice sharp. There’s a look on his face that she can’t place.   

“Yes?”

Hiram hesitates a moment before saying, “Don’t come back here again.”

Veronica tightens her jaw; she should’ve expected he would say something like that. She doesn’t say anything at all, just nods then turns on her heel and leaves for good.

She makes it all the way back to the car- still waiting on Betty- when her emotions get the better of her. Even if she wanted to, Veronica can’t explain where the tears come from; maybe it’s her father, or the trial, or everything else that’s happened since she’s been back in Riverdale, but she can’t put her finger on it. This moment, as awful as it feels, has arrived and demands to be noticed.  

Veronica gives herself a minute to let it out, wanting to get the bad vibes out of her system before she goes back to the house. Once the tears stop coming, she lets go of a shaky exhale, feeling a bit more relieved than she did a moment ago. She flips down the visor in front of her, using the mirror on the back to touch up her makeup; if Betty notices that Veronica has been crying then she’ll want to talk about it and Veronica is _not_ up for that.

She’s just finished touching up her mascara when Betty finally comes up to the car, climbing into the passenger seat. Veronica asks, “How was your visit with Jughead?”

“Rough,” Betty answers honestly. “The other inmates are giving him hell and per usual Jughead, he doesn’t want anybody’s help; how about you? Did you get what you came here for?”

Veronica thinks of her father’s advice, the look he’d had on his face when he told her to leave.

She’s figured it out now. That’s his way of proving that he cares.

“Yeah,” Veronica says quietly, the sick feeling in her chest finally dissipating. “I think I did.”  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two chapters left!


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Where the hell is Veronica?” he asks Betty quietly.
> 
> She shrugs her shoulders. “I have no idea. She was already gone when I got up to feed Genevieve this morning, left a note saying there was something else that she needed to do.”
> 
> “Needed to do? What could she-?”
> 
> A door in the front corner of the room opens and Jughead walks in, a guard following close behind him.
> 
> “Oh _my god-_ Arch, look.”
> 
> His hands are cuffed in front of him and he’s in a navy-blue jumpsuit. There’s a split in his lip that wasn’t there two days ago. Jughead looks up at Betty for a moment and the faraway, glazed over look in his eye makes her feel like she’s going to be sick to her stomach.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know anything about lawyer-ing. Also, trigger warning for mentions of stalking.

_Day of the trial._

Archie can’t remember the last time that he was this anxious- probably the day of his own trial if he’s being honest. Betty is seated next to him in the small courtroom, still waiting for Jughead to be brought in and for everything to start. Genevieve is back at the house with Cheryl and Toni who were more than happy to babysit.

Archie takes a look around. There are a few people that he doesn’t recognize sitting on the opposite side of the room. The Jones’ aren’t here; he had been the one to call FP after Jughead had been arrested to tell him about the whole thing, told him as much as he could without giving away too many details, but FP hadn’t had much to say.

_“We still have ties back to the Serpents, Red,”_ FP told him. _“That along with my past involvement with the law already- hell, with me being Sheriff- if I go in there with guns blazing trying to bust him out, it’s going to look like we have ulterior motives. I’ll do what I can on my end, but I don’t know how we’re gonna get Jug out of this one… you should’ve told me sooner.”_

He’s wondering now if they’re even going to show up, wonders if FP and Jellybean will be here to hug Jughead goodbye if he gets put away.

Archie looks over his shoulder just as the big doors behind him open. Reed and Anita are coming into the courtroom; Anita looks more than one kind of pissed off and Reed wheels in behind her, his face expressionless. Reed catches Archie’s eye after he’s reached his seat and then mouths _“I’m sorry,”_ in Archie’s direction.

Archie doesn’t know how to respond to that, so he simply nods. He then turns back around. “Where the hell is Veronica?” he asks Betty quietly.

She shrugs her shoulders. “I have no idea. She was already gone when I got up to feed Genevieve this morning, left a note saying there was something else that she needed to do.”

“Needed to do? What could she-?”

A door in the front corner of the room opens and Jughead walks in, a guard following close behind him.

“Oh _my god_ \- Arch, look.”

His hands are cuffed in front of him and he’s in a navy-blue jumpsuit. There’s a split in his lip that wasn’t there two days ago. Jughead looks up at Betty for a moment and the faraway, glazed over look in his eye makes her feel like she’s going to be sick to her stomach.

Charles comes in a moment later, and Betty tries to ignore the way that her heartbeat has begun to race.

Jughead gets seated at the table directly in front of Archie and Betty on the other side of a gate and Charles takes a seat at the one to the left of him, an almost smug look on his face. Before she can stop herself, Betty finds herself getting up and marching over to where Charles is, ready to give him a piece of her mind.

“Alright, enough,” she says. “I get it, you’re still mad at us, but that doesn’t give you a good reason to do all of this.”

“I’m the arresting officer, Betty. It’s my job to be here and give my statement for the case.”

“ _Bullshit_ , you know that’s not what I meant. You have no reason to be here. So what the hell are you doing in Riverdale? Why did you come back?”

Charles gets up, bracing his hands against the short wall between them. “What? A guy can’t keep tabs on his little sister?”

A chill runs down her spine. “You knew I was here?”

“I know everything, Betty,” he says, coldly. “I know that your old apartment is on the busiest intersection in Jericho. I know that your columnist job doesn’t pay you near as much as you’re worth. And oh yeah, that mean ol’ boyfriend of yours? I know for a fact that not two weeks after you left him behind, he was arrested for public intoxication and for driving under the influence… I’ve had my eye on you since the day you left. This town, too.”

“W-Why?”

A smug, strange smile grows on his face. “To keep you out of trouble, of course. I've been in the shadows this whole time. I saw how cagey you and your dumb little band of cohorts we’re acting right after you showed me that damn DNA test. It couldn’t just be a fluke. I could tell there was something else going on, but I didn’t know what it was. So, I decided to watch you- see if this tragedy of yours would ever see the light of day again. When you came back to Riverdale, I knew it could only be a matter of time before you or one of your friends slipped up and said the wrong thing. So, when I heard the call come in over the radio involving Archie, I knew that you couldn’t be far behind.”

“That doesn’t explain why you went after Jughead-.”

“Jughead has had this coming for years. He did a bad thing. It’s his own fault that he decided to take the fall for all this.”

“No,” Betty says, shaking her head. “No, I don’t believe you. This isn’t about the wreck at all. This is about you and your stupid grudge, all because we proved you wrong.”

“You took my family away.”

“We gave you _answers_. _I’m_ still your family, Charles. Leave Jughead out of this. Don’t put him away for something that’s out of his control, please.” 

“He fully admitted to the accident. It’s up to the judge now what happens to him. I’ve seen decent men get put away for five, even ten years for crimes less than this one. Jughead’s not coming home any time soon; I’m going to make sure of it. Don’t bother holding your breath on this one.”     

Charles pushes away from her, turning his back on Betty altogether. She walks back to her seat, her hands clenching into fists as she does. She can’t believe he would do something like this.

Archie places a hand on her shoulder when Betty comes back to her seat, noticing her tenseness. “Are you okay?” he asks quietly.

“Fine,” she says frigidly. “I just want this to be over already.”

“I know what you mean; I don’t like being here either… too many bad memories.”

Before either one of them can say anything else, the judge comes in and everyone in the room rises; Betty finds herself reaching for Archie’s hand, needing the support. He squeezes her hand in return.

Judge Parrish has been over-seeing trials in Riverdale longer than any of them have been alive. Betty looked him up last night when she couldn’t sleep and immediately regretted it. It’s nearly impossible to win a case with him when it comes to being prosecuted. That, alongside with having Charles here, is not making Betty feel like Jughead has a very good chance at winning.

Parrish takes his seat at the stand, staring down Jughead likes he’s about to make him his last meal.

“Mr. Jones, you’ve been charged with leaving the scene of a crime, intent to injure, and with the destruction of evidence, is that correct?”

Jughead’s voice is muted and shaky, “Yes, sir- you honor.”

“And Agent Smith over here. He was your arresting officer?”

“Yes, he was.”

“Agent Smith, if you don’t me asking, why _on earth_ is federal agent making an arrest on a hit and run case?”

“I was in the area helping out at the station on the day of the arrest. One might say I was just in the right place at the right time.”

Betty’s eyes roll so hard that she’s surprised they don’t get stuck that way.

“Mr. Jones, do you have a lawyer with you?”

“Uh- no, I don’t-.”

Jughead doesn’t get to finish before the wide doors in the back of the room fly open. Veronica marches in with her head held high, a determined look on her face. “Your honor, this trial is over.”

“Excuse me, who the hell are you?” Charles demands.

“Veronica Lodge, Mr. Jones’ defense attorney- and this case can’t continue.”

“And why is that?” Parrish asks.

“Because there isn’t one. Due to the statute of limitations, Mr. Jones never should have been indicted in the first place.” Veronica says indignantly. She holds up Jughead’s file, “It’s all right here.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Charles butts in. “The statute of limitations for a vehicular accident in Riverdale of any kind is ten years.”

“Yes, _but_ , both the accident itself and the destruction of evidence happened over _Greendale_ lines where the statute of limitations is only six years. Just as well, Agent Smith has known Mr. Jones much longer than the two months it’s been since arresting him; he’s too close to this. My original point still stands. This should’ve never gone to trial in the first place. Ergo there is. No. Trial.”

“Now, wait,” Charles tries, “Hold on a minute, my involvement doesn’t have anything to do with-.”

“You have the paperwork to prove all of this?” Parrish asks Veronica and she nods. “Bring it here.”

Veronica walks to the front of the stand, handing over the file; everyone watches with rapt attention as Judge Parrish flips through everything. After an exaggerated pause, Parrish drops the folder onto his stand and pushes his glasses up his nose. He stands slowly, his fingertips still pressed against the wood.

“Mr. Jones… do you understand the gravity of what you’ve done?”  

“Yes, your honor.”

“And this gentleman that was in the other vehicle that night, Mr… Mr. Wilson?”

His voice comes from the back of the room “Yes, your honor?”

Everyone turns to look back at him; some chairs squeak throughout the room.

Judge Parrish continues. “Mr. Wilson, do you bare any ill wills or grievances towards Mr. Jones?”

He shakes his head. “No, your honor. I don’t.”

“And why not?”

Reed makes a face like he’s holding a secret under his tongue. It’s a face that Archie, Veronica, Betty, and Jughead recognize all too well.

“There was more than one party at fault that night,” he says solemnly. “Mr. Jones just so happened to take the fall for most of it. It wouldn’t be fair or in good judgment of me to blame this young man for my own wrongdoings. So, no, Judge Parrish. I do not blame Mr. Jones in the slightest.”

Judge Parrish nods. “Very well,” he says. “Mr. Jones- for your crime in involvement in a vehicular accident _and_ for that of taking the blame for someone else’s faults- I grant you no jail time.”

A series of gasps make their way through the crowd- one coming from Jughead himself. His legs buckle beneath him, nearly sending him to the ground; it all sounds too good to be true. 

“Your honor,” Charles tries, voice wary, “If we could deliberate for just a minute-.”

“The decision has already been made, Agent. No further deliberation is needed. Mr. Jones will finish out the week at Lodge Detention Center, serving a small sentence for withholding information in a legal investigation and that is _final_.” Judge Parrish slams the gavel down, the sound echoing off of the walls. “Case dismissed.”

Like it’s no big deal- like he hadn’t just more or less declared Jughead a free man in a single breath- Judge Parrish resides back to his quarters. Leaving everyone standing there with their jaws still stuck on the floor.

Veronica did it. She _cleared his name_.

A deputy walks over and uncuffs Jughead’s hands and all Jughead can do is stare at them.

Veronica has a wicked, _I told you this would work out_ kind of smile on her face. She looks over at Charles and finds him fuming with anger. When he stomps over to her with his face as red as a tomato, Veronica holds her hand up before he can even try and spit his fury at her.

“Save it,” she says. “Your anger isn’t going to change this so I suggest that you get a head start on getting over yourself while you pack your bags and get out of town. And if I were you, I’d make that happened fast before I have you arrested for aiding and abetting in a false accusation _and_ for stalking my friend. Take your pick of which hill you’d rather die on.”

Charles glares daggers at her, smoke practically billowing out of his ears. He glances over at Betty, his top lip snarling for moment before he backs away- packing up his briefcase and leaving the courtroom altogether.

This leaves the original four alone in the courtroom, everyone else has left already. Jughead looks up from his hands at Veronica; his eyes are full of disbelief. Breathless, he asks, “What the hell did you just do?”

Veronica shrugs like it was nothing. “You got to play hero, once… it’s my turn now. I get to be the hero this time.”

In a small voice he asks, “I’m- I’m not going to jail?”

Veronica shakes her head. “Not for a minute, Jughead. By the end of this week you’ll be home, for good.”

The shaky cry that comes out of Jughead surprises all of them. His bottom lip trembles before he can try and cover it up. As an even bigger surprise, Jughead reaches for Veronica. He wraps an arm around her neck, hooking his chin over her shoulder. It takes her a second, but she hugs him back, her own small arms coming around his waist.

“I’m sorry.”

“Sorry? Sorry for what, Jughead?”

He pulls back to look her in the eye. “For not giving you enough credit for being a good person. But also… for not earlier thanking you for being my friend- especially when I don’t deserve it.”

Veronica’s own eyes start to water. “Oh shit, my _mascara_.”

All of them laugh and then join in on the hug. It’s an awful angle and Archie and Betty can hardly reach, but it is hands down the best moment all of them have shared together.

Jughead’s walking out of here a free man. They’re all going home together. They all made it out in one piece.

Best of all: there are no more secrets to keep.

 

 

 

The day of Jughead’s release turns out to be more of a spectacle than it was originally planned. After getting the good word from Betty, Toni calls up some of the serpents- old and new- and they all show up at the detention center, ready to welcome home one their own. The sight of so many people standing there- all of them waiting to give Jughead the reunion he so greatly deserves- nearly brings Betty to tears.

They all stand there for an hour, having showed up much earlier than any of them needed to, growing more and more anxious by the minute. Betty paces in front of her friends, tracing the yellow line that keeps crowds fifteen feet from the gate at all times. She never walks more than three feet before turning around and starting her track again. Her nails have been chewed down to the nub but she keeps biting anyway.

“They said eight, right?” Betty asks, looking to her friends.  “It’s almost eight-fifteen, what’s taking so long?”

“It’s probably just taking him a little while to get processed, B.” Veronica rocks a sleeping Genevieve in her arms. “Give it a few more minutes, I’m sure he can’t be much longer. It’s not like they can keep him here just because they feel like it.” 

Betty stops moving, legs locked in place. Her hands begin to sweat at the idea of something going wrong at the very last minute, of having to wait any longer to see Jughead again. All of the _what-ifs_ going through her head are starting to make her spiral; Betty shakes her head, getting rid of them before they can get any further.

“Yeah, but-.” Betty doesn’t even know how to start this sentence. “But what if-.”

“Hey, look,” Archie interrupts, pointing behind her. “There he is.”

Betty whirls around and the short skirt of her blue floral dress moves with her. Sure enough, Jughead is walking towards the gate with a plastic bag in his hand, holding his belongings. He’s all alone. The only release for today.

_There is he._

She’s so overjoyed by the sight of him that for a moment Betty can’t even move. As she watches him grow closer and closer to the wire fence, she feels her heart do something funny, stretching three sizes in a matter of seconds.

This is everything she’s been waiting for for the last two months and it’s finally _here_.

Jughead stops short of the wiring, his free hand twitching at his side. The gate buzzes, slides to left, and everyone watches with rapt attention as he takes a slow measured step past the gate- onto the blacktop and into freedom. He lets his head fall back and visibly sighs a breath of relief.

Some of the Serpents start to cheer behind her, but Betty doesn’t listen to any of it. She marches forward- yellow line be _damned_ \- and goes straight for Jughead who has yet to move. He picks his head up as he lets the plastic bag fall out of his hand- looking up just in time for Betty to wrap her arms around his neck.  

Betty presses her face into the side of his neck. She feels at peace when Jughead’s arms come around her waist, holding on impossibly tight. Jughead shudders against her and Betty’s hand move to the back of his head, stroking lightly. Betty pulls away first but keeps her hands on the back of Jughead’s skull. Her thumb rubs over the space behind his ear, making him look up at her.

When his blue eyes meet hers Betty _swears_ that everything is right in the world again.

“I’m so happy to have you home, Jug,” she says. “You have no idea.”

His voice is barely audible over the crowd, but Betty doesn’t miss it when Jughead says, “Have I ever told you how fucking grateful I am to get to live my life- to have an existence with _you_ in it?” 

She can’t wait any longer Betty decides. If she doesn’t get her mouth on him in the next two seconds then she’s going to burst-.

“You kissed me, that day in the delivery room,” she says. “… do it again. _For real,_ this time.”

Jughead doesn’t need to be told twice. He ducks his head, letting Betty’s hands guide him to her mouth. The whooping and the hollering from the Serpents gets louder as they kiss, reminding them both of fireworks. It feels like magic as their mouths move against each other, like the best kind of joy.

They’re both breathless and borderline euphoric when they pull away from each other, foreheads still pressed together. Betty pulls back first, pushing Jugheads overgrown hair away from his face, taking a moment to just look at him.

She could be wrong, but at that moment, Betty is sure that Jughead’s smile outshines the entire sky. 

“C’mon,” she says, gesturing behind her with her head. “Let’s go home… there’s a whole world out there for you to see.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter is the finale! I can't wait for you guy to see it!


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Ronnie, are you up here?” He calls as he rushes up the steps. He looks around the short hallway, the bathroom is empty and the door to the guest room where Veronica has been staying is wide open with the lights off. Still no Veronica anywhere in sight.
> 
> On a whim, Archie takes the last few steps up to his room and sure enough, the door is ajar. He pushes it open slowly, noticing Veronica sitting on his bed with a framed photo in her hands.
> 
> “Veronica?”
> 
> She looks over at him and her eyes are wet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The end is here. Thanks to everyone who has been reading since the beginning and thanks for sticking with me even when it took a while to get a new chapter out. If you've left a kudos, comment, or anything of the sharing nature- all my love to you, really. This far surpassed what I thought it would be (by about twenty thousand words, might I add) and I'm grateful to share it with all of you. 
> 
> Enjoy!

The first person that Jughead holds after Betty _and_ after his dad and sister is Genevieve; he refuses to let go of the baby even after an hour- much to Archie’s chagrin.

“I was in there for two months, Arch,” Jughead says defiantly. “I’m making up for lost time- you can hold her in a week when I’m done.”  

This brings a much-needed laugh out of everyone. And an even bigger laugh when even _Betty_ can’t Jughead to give Genevieve back to her.

Later, after he’s had his own time to get reacquainted with everyone, Jughead and Betty are up in Archie’s room, lying in bed. Genevieve is fast asleep in her bassinet next to them so they keep their voices quiet. They continue to share short kisses; it’s impossible to resist when they’re so close to each other, barely six inches of space between them.

“So,” Betty starts, “What do you want to do tomorrow with your first day back?”

“Well, for starters I need to call my editor and apologize for falling off the face of the earth.” He says, “I’ll have to find a way to explain all of this to her. Who knows- maybe I can get a good story out of all of this.”

She stifles a laugh. “Maybe. But what about after that?”

Jughead grins likes he’s up to no good. “After that, well… I thinking I would take a beautiful girl out to lunch. If she’s still interested, that is.”

Betty beams widely. “I have a hunch that she’s more than interested; I’d love to, Jughead.”

“Good. Because would have been _really_ embarrassing if you said no.”

She laughs out loud this time, quickly covering her mouth as to not wake up the baby. Betty curls in forward, pressing her forehead against Jughead’s collar bone. Her hand finds the fabric of his t-shirt around his ribcage, holding to it tightly; Jughead’s arm lays over her shoulders, his hand falling to the middle of Betty’s back.

Everything she’s ever wanted has come back to her tenfold and she couldn’t be happier about it.  

 

 

 

Archie searches the living room once more for his shoes; he’s sure that he took them off in here last night- ha! Under the couch of course.

After last nights impromptu welcome home party for Jughead, everything is still in a bit of disarray. Archie hadn’t had people over since Fred’s funeral services back in March. Having so many people over for such a wildly different- far more joyous reason reminded Archie of just how much life can fit into such a small space. It got him to thinking back on the handful of parties and other gatherings his dad held here over the years, everyone always left with a smile on their faces.

This afternoon, Archie, Veronica, Betty, and Jughead are all supposed to go to the movies after Betty and Jughead’s lunch date as a way to catch Jughead up to speed.

_“Think of all the movies I missed in two months!”_ He exclaimed the night before, _“I’m practically uncultured at this point!”_ The other three rolled their eyes but decided to indulge him nonetheless. 

Archie’s phone buzzes on the coffee table; a text from Jughead lights up the screen.

**Jug:** _On our way back to the house. Ready to go?_

Archie finishes putting on his shoes and turns over his shoulder to yell up the stairs. “Hey, Ronnie! Betty and Jug are almost home, are you ready to go?”

No answer. Complete silence throughout the house.

He tries again, “Veronica?” Still nothing. Archie finds this odd; he could’ve sworn Veronica said she didn’t have any plans this morning.

He walks to the bottom of the staircase, just listening for now. Though he’s finally been upstairs since being back in Riverdale, Archie hasn’t been able to make himself go into his Dad’s room. Facing the music on his passing- even after all this time- he doesn’t want to think about it. That’s too much to deal with.

“Ronnie, are you up here?” He calls as he rushes up the steps. He looks around the short hallway, the bathroom is empty and the door to the guest room where Veronica has been staying is wide open with the lights off. Still no Veronica anywhere in sight.

On a whim, Archie takes the last few steps up to his room and sure enough, the door is ajar. He pushes it open slowly, noticing Veronica sitting on his bed with a framed photo in her hands.

“Veronica?”

She looks over at him and her eyes are wet. Veronica wipes her cheeks with her fingers.

“What’s wrong? What are you doing up here?”

“Nothing. Just- feeling a lot, I guess.”

Archie comes over her shoulder, looking at the photo in her hands. He smiles fondly when the memory comes back to him. “That was the first weekend after Senior year started. Dad insisted on having that big cookout.”

“Yeah.” Veronica says, “And Jughead set his personal record on how many burgers he could eat in one night.” Both of them chuckle; everyone had been surprised that Jughead didn’t make himself sick after scarfing down _nine_ burgers.

A water fight had broken out at some point during the party and Archie was prime target number one as the son to the host. Of course he’d tried using his dad as a shield more than once, which only made both of them even more wet. The photo is from right before the fight ended and Fred caught Archie in a headlock while Jughead popped a water balloon over his head. Fred is mid-laugh; seeing the grin now makes Archie’s throat go tight.

“That was a good day,” Archie says, mostly for his own sake.

“Yeah, it was. Your dad has such a good smile… I hate to think that I’m only going to get to see it in photos now.”

There’s a solemn tone in Veronica’s voice that Archie’s never heard before. He doesn’t have to ask what it’s about before she’s answering him anyway; always one step ahead. 

“I went to see my dad, Archie.”

Every hair on his body decides to stand tall. “Why?”

She shrugs. “I needed help getting Jughead out of trouble. He was the only one who would know what to do.”

“Why didn’t you tell me before?”

“I thought you or Betty would’ve been mad, or try to change my mind.”

“Did it help? Going to see him?” Archie sits down next to her on the bed.

“Yeah, it did. He gave me exactly what I needed. I wouldn’t have found a way out for Jughead if I hadn’t.”

“Is that why you’re upset? Because of your dad.”

Veronica shakes her head. “No. Not exactly.”

“Then what is it?” He asks, scooting closer to her.

She bites her lip, stalling. “He told me to stay away. That as a form of payment for helping, I can’t come back and see him ever again. And I don’t even know what reason I would’ve had for coming to visit him again but-.”

“But it’s like you’re losing him, in a way,” Archie finishes for her. “Preemptively.” 

Veronica nods and her bottom lip trembles; Archie wraps his arms around her shoulders, pulling her to him. He doesn’t say anything when she starts to shake under him. His ears start to burn. He wishes he knew how to help her, or the right thing to say at least.

Veronica sits up after a minute. Her eyes are still red and she breathes deeply. “You probably think I’m ridiculous.”  

“No, Ronnie. Not at all.”

“My dad did awful things to you, Archie. He could’ve gotten you killed- more than once.”

“Yeah. But he’s still your dad. That doesn’t mean you have to stop caring about him.”

Veronica almost laughs. “That’s pretty insightful.”

He smiles. “I’ve had a lot to time think these past few months.”  

“Oh, yeah?” She asks, her voice growing quiet. “Anything in particular that you've been thinking of?”

_Mostly you_ , he almost says, but then decides he’s got a different way to tell her instead.

Before he can second guess himself, Archie leans forward, his hand grasping Veronica’s cheek as he leans in to kiss her. He goes slow. He presses his lips against hers once, twice- giving her a chance to react. Archie barely pulls back an inch before her mouth is on his again and he can’t think of anything else. All at once this moment feels like the sun came out after a long rain. Feels like everything that both of them have been waiting for. Both of them sigh when the kiss ends, foreheads pressed against each other. Archie shifts, pressing his nose to Veronica’s cheek.

She sighs almost dreamily. Veronica whispers, tone sarcastic, “What happened to taking our time?”

Archie shakes his head. “Screw that. I’ve had you in my corner since we were fifteen. What’s the point in waiting when I’ve had you all this time?”

Veronica’s manicured nails find the back of his neck, moving to look Archie right in the eye. “You are everything I’ve ever wanted, Archie Andrews. I-.”

“I know,” he says sweetly. “I love you, too.”

Her eyes shine with joy instead of tears this time. Veronica pulls Archie to her lips again, reveling in everything that he is. She’s about to pull him closer- that itch in her gut begging her to get rid of the space between them- then the front door opens and Betty’s voice calls up the stairs.

_“Hey, we’re back! Are you guys coming or what?”_

If it were any less childish, Veronica would pout.

Archie tips his head back, looking at her mischievously. “Later?”

“Later. _Definitely_ , later.”

Veronica wraps her hand in Archie’s as they walk downstairs and she’s not at all surprised to see Betty and Jughead doing the same thing.

“Took you guys long enough- dare I ask what you were doing up there?” Jughead jokes.

Veronica ignores the jeer and makes a mental note to check her lipstick once no one is looking. She looks over to Betty. “Gen with Cheryl and Toni?”

“Yep. Dropped her off on the way home. I think Cheryl is trying to use her to convince Toni to adopt or something. She practically pushed me out the door after I handed Genevieve over.”

“Cheryl as a mom.” Jughead notes, “ _That’s_ something I gotta see.”

Once all of them are outside, Veronica asks, “Does that mean you’re sticking around, Jughead?” and he shrugs.

“All of the people I care about are here, so. Why not? My editor cut me a break; I never did finish my Jason Blossom novel. I figure this place is as good as any to come back to that story; it’s got all of the heart and twice as much suspense- damn. That wasn’t half bad, someone write it down so I don’t forget it later.”

This makes Archie laugh and Betty smile; she reaches up to kiss his cheek.

“Well if you guys are here then so am I. There is no way I’m missing out on all of Genevieve’s little milestones. Besides, Boston just isn’t doing it for me anymore.”

“I’m so glad you feel that way, V. Cause I was thinking… what if we got a place together? Just you, me, and Genevieve? I was looking at listings the other day, there are some openings at The Pembrooke.”

Veronica smiles widely, reaching for Betty with her free hand. “I’d love nothing more, B.”

Jughead tips his head to the side, looking to Archie who’s been more or less silent through this whole conversation. Archie has completely tuned out everyone else, his own gazed locked on his childhood home in front of him.

“What about you, tough guy?” Jughead asks, “Did you make a decision about selling the house yet?”

Without looking away from the house, Archie responds. “No.”

“No?”

“No, I’m- I’m not going to sell it.”

“Really? Why the change of heart, Arch?”

He shrugs, looking around at all his friends. “When I came back, all it did was remind me of the hard times, how much hurt I was holding onto the last time I was living in Riverdale. But being back here- having you guys around, it’s changed my perspective on some things.”

“So you’ll stay?” Betty asks hopefully.

Archie bites back a grin, glancing over his shoulder at his childhood home again. “I grew up here. My dad grew up here… I want the same thing for my kids someday.” 

Veronica squeezes his hand after hearing the end of his sentence, leaning in closer to him.

“That settles it,” Jughead says. “We’re all living in Riverdale once more. It’s like high school all over again. The only thing that would make it even more like high school would be if I was sleeping on the floor in Archie’s room, too.”

This pulls a laugh out of the redhead. “You can stay with me as long as you’d like, Jug; I could use the company.”

 “As much I love seeing this bromance play out,” Veronica buts in. “We are _seriously_ late for this movie. If we don’t leave now, we’ll miss the credits entirely.”

“That’s alright,” Jughead says, “I know a back entrance into the bijou- they’ll never even know we were there.”    

The other three just smile and shake their heads then walk down the street towards the movie theater.

As they walk past the corner of Elm and Third street it’s impossible not to think about how the four of them were in this _exact_ same spot eight years ago- still wrapped up in the biggest mess of their lives. Only this time, opposed to walking away from each other, they’re walking together, leaving as friends again. The best kind of evolution that any of them could have asked for.

Archie pauses for a minute, looking back at the street corner, thinking about the morning that all of them left, how angry all of them were with each other. Veronica’s hand touches his forearm, bringing him back to reality.

“Are you okay, Archie?”

“Yeah,” he says, both soft and fond. “I just didn’t expect my life to turn out like this.”

 

 

 

That night, once their back from the movie, Archie waits until he’s sure everyone is asleep before getting up from the couch, moving as quiet as he can manage up the stairs. He pauses outside of his dad’s bedroom door, his hand hovering over the doorknob.

He’s waited long enough to do this. It’s time to face the music- no matter what that looks like.

_If I don’t do this now it’s never going to happen._ Archie forces himself to take a deep breath before pushing the door open, trying to keep his anxiety from getting the best of him. The smell that Archie could always associate with only being _Fred Andrews_ touches Archie’s nostrils the second the door opens and his lungs tighten almost painfully.

He clicks on the light first thing, a warm glow filling the room from above. There’s a thin layer of dust covering everything when he steps inside- no surprise there. The bed is halfway made; like Fred was running late that morning and didn’t have the time to make it fully like he usually would have.

Archie goes to the closet door next, noticing that it’s cracked open. The overhead light doesn’t come on no matter how many times Archie tugs on the string hanging in front of his face, so he settles with using the backlight above him.

All of his dad’s flannels are hanging before him as well as a few fancier buttons downs, the suit that Fred was wearing when Archie graduated. He runs his hands across them, finds the red and black one tucked all the way in the back- Archie’s favorite of the bunch. He almost takes it off of the hanger, half a mind to pull it around his shoulders- but then decides against it for the sake of keeping the peace. For leaving everything just the way that he found it.

Archie steps back from the closet, leaving the door open just a crack and goes to Fred’s dresser drawers. He can’t remember the last time he went rummaging through these drawers; it was probably sometime in middle school, searching for quarters to use at the Arcade with Jughead.

Archie has a quick flashing memory of a time Fred caught him red-handed, his pockets full of change. Fred wasn’t upset by any means, just confused more than anything. _“Son,”_ he had said, his hands stuffed in his jeans. _“If you want five bucks just ask- stealing isn’t gonna get you anywhere good in the long run.”_

Archie smiles to himself as he runs his hands over the dark wood. For some reason the top-drawer sticks when he tries the handle the first time. It takes both of his hands and one foot braced against the bottom before the drawer finally gives, colliding with Archie’s chest roughly. He moves some things aside. Some old socks, an old ball cap that Archie thinks used to belong to his uncle Oscar once- and then he sees it.

The keys to his dad’s truck. The same ones Jughead never did seem to track down, gold and glinting in front of his eyes. All at once, the last conversation Archie had with his dad starts to come back to him. A phone call from just a few days before his passing.

_“Yeah, I misplaced my keys somehow so I’ve been walking to work the last couple of days.”_

“Walking to work- don’t you have a set of spares?” Archie had asked him.

_“Of course I do, but the lots not that far from the house. Besides, Arch, the world has a lot to offer. I might as well take a few minutes to look up and enjoy it every once and awhile.”_

Archie palms the keys, the cool metal digging into his hand. He picks his head up, finally noticing the array of photo’s sitting on top of the dresser. Archie’s looked at them a million times, but today it feels like he’s witnessing everything with fresh eyes. There’s one of Fred and Mary slow dancing from the day they got married. Another one with his grandparents, a younger Fred with his arms around them both.

Then, front and center, there’s one of Archie and Fred. Archie can’t be much more than four in this photo; there’s an empty construction lot behind them- probably one of the bigger projects Fred’s crew got to work on. Fred is holding him on his hip, his tight-lipped smile and bright eyes looking right at the camera. But little Archie has his eyes locked right on his dad- one of his small grubby hands trying to grab a hold of Fred’s cheek, a wide smile on his face.

Archie laughs as he looks at the younger version of himself, the sound watery. He holds the photo to his chest, wishing that he could pull a memory out of this, but he can’t- not a natural one anyways. Archie blinks away tears, brushing the remnants away with the pad of his thumb. He keeps the photo in his hands, looking at it intently as he sits down on the edge of his dad’s bed.

His thoughts keep going back to that last conversation they had, what Fred said about looking up every once in a while. Archie traces the side of his thumb over his dad’s figure in the photo- wishing that he could talk to him now and catch him up to speed on everything that’s happened since he’s been back in Riverdale.

_Well,_ he thinks, absently _, there is one thing that I could do._

Archie closes his eyes, tips his head back, and then gives himself a beat or two to just breathe. Then, once he’s collected himself, he opens his eyes, looks up and says:

“Hey, Dad- I know it’s been a while. But there’s something that I’ve been meaning to tell you about…”

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! Thanks for giving my fic a chance! Comments/Kudos are appreciated and encouraged. I hope you have a great day!


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